The head of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, Tayseer Al-Hamidi, revealed that the losses incurred by the agricultural and tourism sectors in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, as a result of the Israeli blockade, which lasted 16 days and was lifted on Sunday, amounted to about 300 million shekels.

Al-Hamidi told Al-Quds.com: "The repeated blockade, since the beginning of this year for four times, has incurred the mainstay of the economy in Jericho, namely the tourism and agricultural sectors, with great losses, as a result of which tourist places were damaged, as well as crops, which are the two tributaries of the economy in general in Jericho."

According to Al-Hamidi, the losses of the tourism sector amounted to more than 220 million shekels, including hotels, transportation and tourist places, and about 70 million shekels for the agricultural sector, especially the watermelon and melon season.

Al-Hamidi pointed out that the siege, which lasted intermittently for about a month, had a general impact on Ariha and its economy, as people experienced many types of suffering.

Yesterday, Sunday, the Israeli occupation forces lifted the siege imposed on Jericho and the Jordan Valley, after 16 days of tightening the checkpoints at its entrances, but the barriers, iron gates, and cement cubes that the occupation forces erected are still present, and the military measures and soldiers at the checkpoints have been removed.

During the siege on Jericho, which the occupation forces imposed in whole or in part four times since the beginning of the year, following shooting operations targeting Israelis, and the subsequent siege and incursions into Jericho, especially the Aqabat Jaber camp, south of the city, nine young men were killed from the camp, and the occupation forces continue to detain the bodies of seven of them. Dozens were injured and about a hundred were arrested during these raids, forty of whom were from Aqabat Jaber camp.