Israel has a long history of isolating the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to numerous closures during the past two decades. But the tight blockade imposed following the victory of the Hamas movement in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections was unprecedented. Israel declared the Gaza Strip a closed area and imposed penalties on the Hamas-led government, including restrictions on imports of fuel and other goods and the movement of people out of and into Gaza.
Over the years, Israeli authorities worked to broaden and deepen the isolation of the Gaza Strip. One of the most draconian restrictions in its impact was Israel’s separation of Gaza from the West Bank. This separation policy restricted Palestinians’ entry into and exit out of Gaza, preventing university students in Gaza from receiving education in West Bank universities, professionals from participating in continuing education, patients from receiving healthcare, businessmen from trading and families from staying united.
Under international law, Israel is an occupying power although it already ‘disengaged’ from the Gaza Strip in 2005; it still continues to control entry and exit from Gaza by land, sea and air. Likewise, it controls Gaza’s population registry, telecommunication networks and many other aspects of daily life and infrastructure. Rather than undertaking its duty in protecting the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, Israel has been placing Palestinians under suffocating blockade, which constitutes an unprecedented form of collective punishment in a stark violation of international humanitarian law.
It is a cause of particular concern that this situation of Israel lawlessness with such a dire impact on the civilian population is allowed by the United Nations and its member States to continue for so long without a much more concerted effort to induce Israel to comply with international law, lift the blockage, and cease all forms of collective punishment.
Richard Falk, Euro-Med Monitor’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Israeli officials curtailed fuel entry in June 2019, and at the beginning of 2020, residents of the Gaza Strip were receiving approximately six hours of electricity, followed by eight hours off.
compared to 3 in 2005, before the imposition of the blockade.
52%
71%
60%
42%
Restrictions on movement of both goods and people are long-standing challenges facing Palestinians.
Before Israel imposed its blockade on Gaza, individuals and goods moved in and out through six crossings: Erez, Karni, Nahal Oz, Kerem Shalom and Sufa via Israel and Rafah via Egypt. Once the blockade was enforced, all of them were closed except for Egypt’s Rafah crossing and Israel’s Erez (for people) and Kerem Abu Shalom (for goods).
Although the Rafah crossing is open most days (unlike the recent past), the number and type of people allowed to exit per day is strictly limited. As a result, many Palestinians in Gaza must pay high “coordination fees” to be able to leave. In addition, the treatment of Palestinians by Egyptian security personnel is notoriously harsh. Thus, the importance of Israel’s Erez crossing has grown.
65%
to review exit permit requests by ill individuals to receive treatment outside Gaza through Erez crossing.
were permitted to travel through Erez on a monthly basis during 2019, compared to 30,000 in 2005.
entry and exit cases per month through Rafah border in 2019, compared to 40,000 in 2005.
The Gaza Strip’s economy has wallowed in a general recession ever since the Israeli blockade was imposed, resulting in the near-total closure of commercial crossings and severe restrictions on the movement of traders and other businesspeople. The three major wars further exacerbated the crisis, paralyzing all enterprise during the assaults. The effects—caused in large part by the destruction of plants and offices and a loss of jobs—lingered long after ceasefires were declared.
On the macroeconomic level, the contribution of the Gaza Strip to the gross domestic product (GDP) of Palestine hovered at less than 20% by the end of 2019. Average per capita annual income dropped to 800 USD, compared to $3,600 for the Palestinian territories overall.
Likewise, investment in Gaza declined to about 3% of Palestinian GDP, causing the strip’s productive sector (agriculture, industry and services) to contribute less than 13% (compared to 28% in 1994). Gazan agriculture, long a mainstay of the Palestinian economy, now accounts for less than 5% of the GDP.
Since the imposition of the blockade, the number of businesses in Gaza has decreased from 3,500 to 250. Among them, more than 600 manufacturing plants have closed. Due also to the three major military attacks, the productive capacity of the remaining facilities does not exceed 16%. It is estimated that Gaza’s private sector has suffered losses of about $11 billion during this time.
52%
90%
54%
of goods entered Gaza through Kerem Shalom crossing per month during 2019, compared to 10,400 in 2005.
left Gaza monthly through Kerem Shalom commercial crossing in 2019, compared to 1,000 in 2005.
All commercial crossings of Gaza are now completely closed, except for Kerem Shalom Crossing with Israel, and Rafah border with Egypt.
Israel has imposed a “buffer zone” inside the Gaza Strip that extends well beyond the border fence. In this area, all movement of Palestinians is prohibited.
The actual boundaries of this security zone are not clear and, like area of the sea in which fishing may take place, the line always seems to be shifting. Until 2008, pedestrian traffic was generally allowed up to 300 meters from the fence, and farmers could go as close as 100 meters in the course of their work. However, with the launch the first major Israeli assault in December 2008, Palestinians were ordered to stay out of a much broader swath of land—reaching 1,000-1,500 meters from the separation fence. The “off-limits” land represented about 35% of the Gaza’s land suitable for agriculture. Israeli forces destroyed or contaminated much of this arable land. After the 2012 military attack, Israel eased these restrictions, only to tighten them again later. Regardless of the official limits, however, Israeli forces often target even farmers who work in permitted areas and carry out periodic ground. In addition, in December 2015, Israel sprayed pesticides from airplanes on Palestinian land along the border. By 2018, approximately 13,723 dunums of agricultural crops had been damaged and the health of the 70% of livestock that graze in the buffer zone was impaired.
of land suitable for agriculture is deducted by the buffer-zone.
is Gaza’s agriculture’s share of the total GDP
of agricultural crops had been damaged by 2018.
of the livestock that graze in the buffer zone was impaired.
The Oslo Agreement, signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel in 1994, permits the Palestinians to sail up to 20 nautical miles (about 37 km) off the Gaza coast. However, that has never been permitted in reality. Instead, Israel arbitrarily limits fishing to an ever-changing zone that is never further than 12 nautical miles out.
95%
make up the area allowed for fishing.
The number of registered fishermen in Gaza has fallen from 10,000 to 3,700 since 2000.
continually by the Israeli navy, even in permissible areas.
During the past 14 years, Israeli forces launched three major attacks on the Gaza Strip: in 2008-2009, 2012 and 2014. Sporadic air and ground attacks occurred in between them.
The first of the major attacks started on December 27, 2008, and lasted for 21 days—ending January 18, 2009. Over the course of the three weeks, Israeli forces dropped around 1 million kilograms of explosives on the strip, causing the destruction of nearly 4,100 houses and damaging 17,500 others. Nearly 1,500 (1,436) Palestinians were killed and about 5,400 others were injured, including many children and women.
This attack started on November 14, 2012, and lasted for eight days, ending November 21, 2012. Israeli warplanes killed 162 Palestinians, wounded nearly 1,300, and destroyed 200 houses. Another 1,500 homes were damaged.
The longest and most deadly Israeli attack on Gaza started July 8, 2014, and lasted 51 days—ending August 26, 2014. Euro-Med Monitor’s field team documented 60,664 Israeli land, sea and air raids, which killed 2,147 Palestinians (in many cases, involving one family) and wounded 10,870 others. A recorded 17,123 homes were hit, of which 2,465 were destroyed.
during Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009)
during Operation Pillar of the Defense (2012)
during Operation Protective Edge (2014)
70%
The electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip dates to the start of the blockade in 2006, when Israeli forces bombed the six main transformers at the only power plant. Although the station was later partially repaired, a shortage of fuel also persists. As a result, the Strip suffers from a large deficit in electrical energy, with power outages for up to 16 hours per day.
30%
of the amount of diesel needed to operate Gaza’s power plant at full capacity is available.
of contaminated (untreated) wastewater pumped daily into the Mediterranean due to power shortage, polluting the beaches.
The electricity crisis has forced hospitals to postpone non-emergency surgeries, thus increasing the estimated waiting period to 16 months by the beginning of 2020, compared to 3 months in 2005.