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GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Security forces from the Hamas-led government arrested two hunger strikers protesting the crippling levels of unemployment in the besieged Palestinian enclave, family members said on Wednesday.

Raed Nasr and Said Lolo, who have been on hunger strike for around a month, were arrested on Sunday night in Gaza City, Nasr’s father Ayman Nasr told Ma’an.

“On Sunday they were at al-Awdah hospital for treatment after 30 days of hunger strike and they suddenly disappeared,” he said.
The father added that his wife received a phone call from their son Raed on Tuesday morning telling her that he was detained at the al-Abbas police station and would be referred to the general prosecution for legal procedures.

“They are not thieves or drug dealers, but young men only looking for jobs,” Ayman Nasr said. “They have the right according to the law to stage a sit-in strike that does not disturb the peace.”

Earlier this month, Lolo had told Ma’an that “Gaza security services threatened the young men who staged a sit-in strike at the Unknown Soldier Square (in Gaza City), and made them sign pledges to stop their protests.”

Gaza security forces have detained a number of hunger strikers and demonstrators protesting unemployment in the past month
Another group of unemployed university alumni were detained on May 10 after they staged a sit-in and began a hunger strike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, also protesting lack of employment opportunities and the dire living conditions in the besieged enclave.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), 193,000 people were unemployed in Gaza in 2015, representing a staggering 41 percent of the working age population, while trade unions in the blockaded Palestinian territory have estimated that the unemployment rate was closer to 60 percent.

In February, the Association Of Women’s Work Committees said the unemployment of women in Gaza had reached "astronomical" levels at 63.3 percent.

Unemployment has been one of the most worrying issues in Gaza, as the crippling Israeli blockade on the enclave has severely limited opportunities for job creation.

The UN has warned that unless current trends are altered, Gaza could become uninhabitable for residents by 2020.