Gaza Blockade

Israel began restricting movement from Gaza in the early 1990s, but the closure became a near-hermetic blockade in June 2007, after Hamas took control of the Strip. Israel controls the Erez crossing for people and the Kerem Shalom crossing for goods, enforces a naval blockade and narrow fishing limits off the coast, and has declared a buffer zone along Gaza’s perimeter; Egypt has kept its Rafah crossing closed for long periods. Exports from Gaza — once the territory’s economic lifeline — were reduced for years to a trickle.

The effects on civilian life have been documented exhaustively by the UN and humanitarian organizations: unemployment and poverty affecting around half the population, dependence of most residents on aid, chronic electricity and water crises, and severe limits on travel for study, work, family unification, and medical care. A 2012 UN report famously asked whether Gaza would still be ‘a liveable place’ by 2020.

Israel presents the blockade as a lawful security measure against attacks by Hamas and other armed groups; a 2011 UN panel of inquiry (the Palmer report) accepted the naval blockade as legitimate while criticizing the force used to enforce it. The International Committee of the Red Cross and numerous UN bodies have characterized the broader closure as collective punishment prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention. The blockade remains in force, its conditions shifting with wars, ceasefires, and political negotiation.

Sources

• What Is the Closure of Gaza? — Gisha, Legal Center for Freedom of Movement
• Israel’s Blockade of Gaza Hits 15 Years with No Diplomatic Resolution in Sight — Oxfam International