BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip: The UN says around $540 million will be needed in humanitarian relief for the Palestinian territories in 2018. The UN’s top humanitarian coordinator, Jamie McGoldrick stated on Wednesday that three quarters of that amount will be for Gaza, where “a man-made tragedy is unfolding daily.” A Israeli and Egyptian blockade on Gaza has been in place since the militant group Hamas took over the territory in 2007. The closure along with Hamas’ conflicts with Israel and a bitter power struggle with the group’s bitter rival, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, has devastated the economy. Half the sum is to support emergency projects by UNRWA, the main UN agency for Palestinian refugees, after Washington slashed its funding this year. The rest is to fund food, water, health, sanitation, shelter and education projects.