Blockade of the Gaza Strip

For the intensified blockade since 2023, see Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip (2023–present).

Gaza Strip, with Israeli/Egyptian-controlled borders and limited fishing zone.
Blockade of the
Gaza Strip
Crossings
2004 - 2009
2010
2011 - present
Groups involved

The restrictions on movement and goods in Gaza imposed by Israel date to the early 1990s.[1] After Hamas took over in 2007, Israel significantly intensified existing movement restrictions and imposed a complete blockade on the movement of goods and people in and out of the Gaza Strip.[2] In the same year, Egypt closed the Rafah crossing point.[3] The blockade's current stated aim is to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza; previously stated motivations have included exerting economic pressure on Hamas.[1] Human rights groups have called the blockade illegal and a form of collective punishment, as it restricts the flow of essential goods, contributes to economic hardship, and limits Gazans' freedom of movement.[2][4] The blockade and its effects have led to the territory being called an "open-air prison".[5][6]

Exit and entry into Gaza by sea or air is prohibited. There are only three crossings in and out of Gaza, two of them controlled by Israel and one by Egypt. Israel heavily regulates Palestinians' movement through Erez, with applications considered only for a small number of laborers (less than 5% of the number considered in 2000) and for limited medical and humanitarian reasons.[7] Israel's military cooperation with Egypt and its control of the population registry (through which it controls who can obtain the necessary travel documents) gives it influence over movement through Rafah.[8] Imports are heavily restricted, with "dual use" items permitted only as part of donor projects. This includes construction material and computer equipment. Exports are also heavily restricted, with the main impediment to economic development in Gaza being Israel's ban on virtually all exports from the Strip.[9]

Israel blockaded the Gaza Strip at various levels of intensity in 2005–2006. Israeli-imposed closures date to 1991.[10][11][12][13][14] In 2007, after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, Israel imposed an indefinite blockade of Gaza that remains in place, on the grounds that Fatah and Palestinian Authority forces had fled the Strip and were no longer able to provide security on the Palestinian side.[15] Israel has said the blockade is necessary to protect itself from Palestinian political violence and rocket attacks, and to prevent dual use goods from entering Gaza.[16]

Israel has been accused of violating or failing to fulfill specific obligations it has under various ceasefire agreements[17][18][19] to alleviate or lift the blockade.[20] "Crossings were repeatedly shut and buffer zones were reinstated. Imports declined, exports were blocked, and fewer Gazans were given exit permits to Israel and the West Bank."[21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Human rights groups, international community representatives, and legal professionals have decried the blockade as a form of collective punishment in contravention of international law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention. Rights groups have held Israel mainly responsible as the occupying power.[28][29]

  1. ^ a b "Light at the End of Their Tunnels? Hamas and the Arab Uprisings" (PDF). International Crisis Group. 14 August 2012. p. 38, note 283. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2012. The prime minister is comfortable with limited economic growth in Gaza, particularly as a way to modify Hamas's urge to get into trouble. We still want there to be a discrepancy between economic life in Gaza and the West Bank, but we no longer feel it needs to be so large.
  2. ^ a b "Gaza Up Close". Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement. 2023.
  3. ^ "Egypt to reopen Gaza strip crossing for first time since 2007". The Guardian. 25 May 2011. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  4. ^ "Palmer Report Did Not Find Gaza Blockade Legal, Despite Media Headlines". Amnesty International USA. 6 September 2011.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference open-air prison was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference britannica was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Exits by Palestinians from Gaza via Erez Crossing – Gisha. (December 26, 2023). Retrieved from https://gisha.org/en/exits-by-palestinians-via-erez-crossing-to-israel-the-west-bank-and-abroad
  8. ^ FAQs – Gisha. (2023, November 26). Retrieved from https://gisha.org/en/faqs
  9. ^ The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of De-development, 3rd ed., by Sara Roy.Washington, DC: Institute for Palestine Studies, 2016.
  10. ^ El-Prince, Maryam (13 November 2023). "Gaza Conflict Cascading Effects: The Rafah Question". The Cairo Review of Global Affairs.
  11. ^ "Israel halts talks with P.A on Bus convoys between Gaza and W. Bank". International Middle East Media Center. 8 December 2005.
  12. ^ "Israel threatens Gaza siege". Al Jazeera. 9 December 2005.
  13. ^ "Landmark day on Gaza-Egypt border". BBC News. 26 November 2005.
  14. ^ "Explainer: Gaza – One Of The Most Densely Populated Places On Earth Scarred By War". NDTV.com. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  15. ^ Kershner, Isabel (14 December 2007). "Abbas's Premier Tells Israel to Reopen Gaza". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 November 2011.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ynet Cabinet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Jones, Stephen (22 January 2009). "Gaza: The conflict between Israel and Hamas" (PDF). House of Commons Library.
  18. ^ "Gaza: Israel Hamas ceasefire agreement in full". The Daily Telegraph. 2012. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  19. ^ Page, Rob (2014). "Gaza ceasefire agreement" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  20. ^ "Conditions for a ceasefire: Why Hamas fires those rockets". The Economist. 19 July 2014. Archived from the original on 22 July 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014. After the last big Israeli effort to stop the rockets, in November 2012, it was agreed that, along with a ceasefire, the blockade of Gaza would gradually be lifted and the crossings into Egypt and Israel would be opened. The ceasefire generally held, but the siege continued.
  21. ^ Sherwood, Harriet (30 November 2010). "Israel accused over 'cruel' Gaza blockade". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. According to today's report, Dashed Hopes: Continuation of the Gaza Blockade, imports of construction materials are 11% of the 2007 pre-blockade levels. Despite having agreed to allow in materials for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to rebuild its schools and clinics damaged or destroyed in the three-week war in 2008–09, Israel has permitted only 7% of the necessary amount.
  22. ^ Hartberg, Martin (2012). Beyond Ceasefire: Ending the blockade of Gaza. Oxfam. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-78077-229-5.
  23. ^ Ian Bickerton, The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Guide for the Perplexed, A&C Black, 2012 p.238:'In June 2008 Israel increased the severity of the blockade after Egypt brokered a ceasefire . .'The exchange of rockets launched a retaliatory aerial assaults increased late in 2008 with Hamas and Israeli blaming each other for a breakdown in the ceasefire. The evidence suggests Israel broke the ceasefire with a raid into the Gaza Strip that killed six Hamas men on 4 Novembneer- the night of the presidential election in the USA.
  24. ^ Noam Chomsky, in Elliot N. Dorff, Danya Ruttenberg, Louis E Newman (eds.), Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices: War and National Security Archived 18 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine Jewish Publication Society, 2010 p.26 :'There were some partial ceasefires. But Israel maintained the siege and then violated ceasefire agreements directly. The most important instance of this was in 2008. Right before the Israeli invasion, there was a ceasefire. It was observed completely by Hamas. The Israeli government concedes that there was not a single Hamas rocket fired during the ceasefire. Israel nevertheless maintained the siege, and in November 2008, Israeli just invaded Gaza outright and killed half a dozen Hamas activists. After that, rockets started.'
  25. ^ Thrall, Nathan (21 August 2014). "Hamas's Chances". London Review of Books. Vol. 36, no. 16. pp. 10–12. Archived from the original on 19 June 2018. with 21 November 2012 ceasefire agreement Israel undertook to 'end attacks against Gaza by land, sea and air – including the 'targeting of individuals' (assassinations, typically by drone-fired missile) – and that the closure of Gaza would essentially end as a result of Israel's 'opening the crossings and facilitating the movements of people and transfer of goods, and refraining from restricting residents' free movements and targeting residents in border areas' but Israel therefore saw little incentive in upholding its end of the deal. In the three months following the ceasefire, its forces made regular incursions into Gaza, strafed Palestinian farmers and those collecting scrap and rubble across the border, and fired at boats, preventing fishermen from accessing the majority of Gaza's waters. . . Israel had committed to holding indirect negotiations with Hamas over the implementation of the ceasefire but repeatedly delayed them . . The talks never took place. The lesson for Hamas was clear. Even if an agreement was brokered by the US and Egypt, Israel could still fail to honour it.
  26. ^ Withnall, Adam (14 August 2014). "Israel-Gaza conflict: Israel 'breaks ceasefire in minutes' as eight-year-old girl killed in air strike". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018.
  27. ^ Munayyer, Yousef (2014). "Israel/Gaza Cease-Fire Dynamics Breakdown". The Jerusalem Fund. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018.
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference HRW111 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  29. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gaza closure: not another year! was invoked but never defined (see the help page).