No social safety net for daily wage workers

 

J.S. is 35-year-old daily wage worker struggling to make ends meet under COVID-19 lockdown:

“I live in Deir Al Balah in Middle Gaza district. I’m married and a father of two children. I’m a taxi driver. Due to the lack of electricity, the water is only available for two/three hours once in every three days. Sometimes municipal water is supplied through the main lines during the power cut, which makes pumping it to the roof-top tanks almost impossible. So, when this happens, we fill in water into the large pots available in the house to use it later. During the past days, my tanks ran out of water for two days, and due to the poor finical situation, I could not buy filtered water as an alternative to the municipal water which is very salty and is not suitable for drinking. Furthermore, I work on a taxi owned by another person, and we live off that income. My daily wage ranges between 20 to 25 ILS, I do my best to meet my family needs with this money, and it’s barely sufficient for our basic needs. I’ve been living in very bad conditions since Monday, 24 August 2020, when the Ministry of Interior imposed a lockdown due to the outbreak of COVID-19, as I lost my daily income. I did not receive aid from any governmental or civil bodies. I have no idea how I’m going to secure my family’s basic needs in the coming days if the lockdown continues. I call on officials, governmental bodies and civil organizations to work hard to find solutions to ease the current crisis.”

Daily wage workers unable to meet their families’ basic needs

A 38-year-old taxi driver told Al Mezan:

“I live in Jabaliya in North Gaza district. I’m married and I live with seven family members. I’ve been working as a taxi driver since 2000. It’s my only source of income. Due to the recent imposed lockdown, the traffic police imposed a fine estimated at 6,000 ILS on any car that moves with no clear justification. Accordingly, I’m no longer able to secure food to my family, pay the supermarket’s debts, or secure a nebulizer to my young son Mohammed who suffers from Asthma. As you all know, taxi drivers depend on a daily wage and if they don’t work for one day, they cannot afford their food. Currently, we have no food in the house, I cannot meet my children’s needs, I don’t have money to recharge the prepaid electricity meter and thus cannot make use of the four hours of daily electricity and I will not be able to buy cooking gas once it’s consumed.”