Farmers export first produce

Gaza City
Gaza farmers exported produce to Israel on Thursday for the first time since the Jewish state imposed its blockade on the Palestinian territory in 2006, officials and an NGO said.
Gaza´s agricultural sector, once a key revenue source, has for eight years been paralysed by the Israeli blockade, which controls movement of goods and people to and from the coastal enclave.
Israel announced last week it would allow Gaza to export produce, both to help its farmers and to satisfy the religious needs of Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Every seventh year on the Jewish calendar, observant ultra-Orthodox cannot consume produce grown by Jews in Israel.
Three truckloads of tomatoes and aubergines were allowed through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom goods crossing, Israeli rights group Gisha said in a statement — the first produce in eight years to leave the coastal enclave that is home to 1.8 million Palestinians.