Three years passed as Mohamed Zeyara has been occupying a room in his family's flat in Gaza city, where he still dreams of privacy and moving to his own apartment with his wife and two kids. But due to economic burdens, owning a house has become impossible.

Zeyara, 28 and a tailor, told Xinhua that just "thinking of" privacy and having his own place with his small family "has become illusive and exhausting." "I live with my wife, our two kids and seven brothers and sisters in a 12-square meters apartment," he said.

Options for Zeyara are not founded, where on one hand he is not able to rent another independent house as he won't be able to pay for the cost of no less than 250 U.S. dollars. "I would need a miracle to buy a small piece of land and build a new small house on because lands are horribly expensive," he said.

Over the past two years, prices of real estates in the impoverished Gaza Strip went up so high due to real estate competition as well as the increase of demands and the lack of offers. Depressed Zeyara said he is always concerned about his kids' future and what is waiting for them when they grow up.

The tight blockade imposed by Israel on the coastal enclave right after Hamas had violently seized control of it five years ago had caused a real economic crisis, a high rate of poverty and unemployment, where real estates' prices grew due to Israel's ban of raw-materials into the territory.

However, Israel eased the blockade after its naval commandos attack on the Gaza-bound aids flotilla in late May 2010 and facing heavy international pressure. Construction process in Gaza had refreshed after the Gazans smuggled huge amounts of construction materials from Egypt.

As the prices of smuggled construction materials soared, the prices of real estates went higher. Official figures showed that the number of licenses the residents obtained from the deposed government of Hamas had grown to 15.3 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with last year.

The Gaza Strip, which is only 360 square kilometers, has a population that, according to official figures, had reached 1.8 million. The coastal enclave is poor and is considered as one of the most densely populated areas in the world, where the populations grow on the expense of agricultural lands.

Mo'een Rajab, a professor on economy at the Gaza-based al-Azhar University, told Xinhua that the Gaza Strip is witnessing a huge construction movement, mainly building high-rises and towers, adding that the prices of flats and houses became expensive due to the shortage in many materials.

"The reason for having relative expensive real estates in Gaza is the intensive desire of investors to invest their money in the field of construction, either buying large areas of lands for either private sector housing projects or for making business," said Rajab.

Abdel Rahim Mansour, a real estate dealer from Gaza, said the price of a flat in Gaza is between 60,000 to 100,000 dollars, adding that variety of location plays a role in deciding the price of the flat and "the prices are getting higher and higher day after day."

According to specialists, the horrible rise in the prices of the real estates is due basically to dozens of businessmen who decided to openly invest in this field, bearing in mind the horrible growth of the population and the increase of the demands for a place where to live.

Another real estates dealer, who spoke in condition of anonymity, told Xinhua "We are speaking about dozens of dunums and hundreds of dealers and businessmen who earned huge amounts of money in the smuggling tunnels business and then they invested their money in the real estate business.

Prices of real estates are the highest in Gaza city area and the adjacent neighborhoods, where experts said that the prices in these areas grew 200 percent in the past two years. The high prices of lands were reflected on the prices of flats and apartments due to the increase of demands.

Mo'ness Fares, director of civil planning in Gaza City's municipality, told Xinhua that the number of licenses for building up houses and high-rises had hit to 600 licenses during the first five month of this year. "We formed a special committee to deal with the entire issue and to solve the problem."

The destruction caused during the Israeli war, operation Cast Lead on the Gaza Strip in early 2009 had also intensified the housing crisis in the enclave, where thousands of constructions were destroyed, where Hamas government officials said the Gaza Strip is in need for 100,000 flats to resolve the crisis.

Mohamed Sa'd, a 38-year-old government employee found the situation as a good opportunity for him to buy a cheaper piece of land in the outskirts of Gaza City in addition to the house he owns in the downtown. He said that his house was small and was not enough for 15 people living in it.

"I decided to sell my small house and I bought a little bigger piece of land to build up a larger house," said Sa'd.

Meanwhile, activists in non-governmental organizations in Gaza revealed that the crisis of high real estates in the Gaza Strip is outraging the populations who suffer from siege and bad economy.

Khalil Abu Shamallah, the activist in the Gaza-based rights group al-Dameer, told Xinhua that the whole issue of high real estates prices "is also considered as a violation of human rights in Gaza," adding that "the who situation is threatening the future of the coming generations who still suffers in Gaza."