Blockade of the Gaza Strip

A blockade has been imposed on the movement of goods and people in and out of the Gaza Strip since Hamas's takeover in 2007, led by Israel and supported by Egypt. 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.> 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. The blockade and its effects have led to the territory being called an "open-air prison".

Quotes

• The economy in the Gaza Strip is "collapsing" mainly due to the 11-year blockade on the coastal enclave in addition to cuts in donor aid... unemployment in Gaza had reached more than 50 percent, while 70 percent of young people are jobless... Increased frustration is feeding into the increased tensions which have already started spilling over into unrest and setting back the human development of the region's large youth population... A situation where people struggle to make ends meet, suffer from worsening poverty, rising unemployment and deteriorating public services such as healthcare, water and sanitation, calls for urgent, real and sustainable solutions.
  • World Bank Group , World Bank warns Gaza economy is 'collapsing'... calls on Israel to ease restrictions on trade and movement of people to halt economic 'free fall' in Gaza, AlJazeera (25 Sept 2018)

• Since 2007, Gazans have lived under siege, prohibited from leaving their open-air prison by a high-security militarized wall and platoons of Israeli soldiers. For the last 16 years, starting long before the latest escalation, access to most goods was banned. Gazans couldn’t even get construction materials to repair the homes, hospitals, water treatment facilities, and places or worship that Israel bombed repeatedly — in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2021. Israel often denied emergency medical permits to leave the Strip, leaving many Gazans to die without care. Electricity was already limited. A 72-year-old woman in Gaza told a reporter last January, “It is hard to imagine, but we used to experience 24 hours of electricity each day in Gaza; now we are lucky if we get six.” Now there is none. Water was already unavailable except through expensive purchases from Israeli water companies. And food has long been scarce — by the age of two, 20 percent of Gaza’s children are already stunted. On October 9, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called for a “total siege” of Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas — it’s all closed,” he said. For Gaza’s already impoverished and malnourished population, that’s not just collective punishment — it’s genocide ... If we’re serious about preventing violence, we need to change the conditions from which this brutality sprang. Sending more bombs, warplanes, guns and bullets won’t solve the problem.
  • Phyllis Bennis, We Need an Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza, Counterpunch, (20 October 2023)

• Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.
  • David Cameron, Speech (27 July 2010), as quoted in The Guardian.

• [Linking criticism over antisemitism to his stance on the Middle East] I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that my clearly stated support for the right of Palestinian people to be able to live in peace free from occupation, free from being under siege as in Gaza, and for those living in refugee camps … played a factor in all this. Benjamin Netanyahu couldn't wait to condemn me for my support for the Palestinian people.
  • Jeremy Corbyn, Interviewed by Al Mayadeen (Beirut), quoted in Heather Stewart "Jeremy Corbyn urges west to stop arming Ukraine" The Guardian (2 August 2022)
    • Netanyahu in 2018 said Corbyn deserved "unequivocal condemnation" for a wreath laying in Tunisia four years earlier; the precise details of what had occurred were in dispute.