This article was originally published by Maan News and is republished with permission.

UNRWA has warned of imminent economic collapse in the Gaza Strip due to the continued closure of the Al-Mintar trade crossing - known as the Karni crossing in Israel.

UNWRA Deputy Commissioner-General, Filippo Grandi, asked the Palestinian and Israeli sides to take immediate steps to open the crossing to enable the import and export of goods.

In a press conference in Gaza on Thursday Grandi also warned of further failure, saying that results of economic collapse would be disastrous and would create an atmosphere of hopelessness and despair in which extremism would flourish.

The Deputy Commissioner-General said that from meetings with businessmen in the Gaza Strip and witnessing the loss of the industrial and agricultural sectors due to the closure of the crossing it was evident that economic collapse was imminent.

The manufacturing industry has suffered losses amounting to $ 23 million - half a million US dollars a day since the imposition of the blockade, Grandi said.

He also said that $93 million worth of construction projects implemented by UNRWA in the Gaza Strip, have had to be stopped due to the inability to import construction materials. "There is an urgent need to introduce this very material to the Gaza Strip," he said.

Grandi warned that if the closure of the crossing continues the Gaza Strip would be a hundred per cent aid-dependent within weeks.