This month marks the 15th anniversary of the blockade of Gaza. The impact of the blockade on Gaza’s population of 2 million (whether direct or indirect) has been devastating. Israel may feel safer, but millions suffer and the international community has been powerless, or unwilling, to do more than lobby for minor incremental ‘improvements’ at the margins of the blockade, whilst tolerating in practice the strict embargo on ‘dual use’ goods.  

We offer this short piece to help you understand the background to, reasons for, and repercussions of, the blockade on Gaza. To aid understanding of this complex situation, we’ve kept details/data to a minimum, but there are links in the text pointing to reliable additional sources if you want to know more. 

WHEN WAS THE GAZA BLOCKADE IMPOSED AND WHY?

The blockade of Gaza was imposed by Israel (primarily) and Egypt, acting in concert, following Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the territory in September 2005.  21 Israeli settlements, built illegally under international law in Gaza, were dismantled, and their residents forcibly returned to Israel by the Israelis Defence Force. The territory was handed back to the Palestinian Authority to administer.  

However, all of the seven crossings (six controlled by Israel and one by Egypt) from Gaza into Israel and Egypt were closed, and Israel imposed complete control over Gaza’s airspace, and access to the sea. All movement of people and goods was made subject to control by the Israeli and Egyptian authorities. Nothing and no-one could move in or out of Gaza without Israeli (mainly) or Egyptian agreement. 

The blockade of Gaza had begun, and it has not been lifted since.   

However, the supposedly ‘temporary’ blockade was made permanent on 15 June 2007 when Hamas seized control of Gaza from Fatah, its rival Palestinian political party. Elections held in January 2006 across the Palestinian occupied territories had resulted in victory for Hamas, and a power-sharing agreement. The seizure of sole control in Gaza by Hamas in June 2007, following a five-day conflict between Hamas and Fatah security forces, was the pretext for the blockade to be declared permanent.   

Israel justifies its action on the grounds that it needs to defend its citizens from rocket attacks, from terrorism and from dual use goods (goods that can be used to manufacture weapons) entering Gaza. Egypt has maintained the blockade because of fears that militants and arms have passed between Gaza and northern Sinai, where there is an ongoing Islamist insurgency which the Egyptian security forces are trying to control. 

WHAT DOES THE GAZA BLOCKADE CONTROL?

The blockade controls the movements of goods and people into and out of Gaza with an embargo on goods deemed by Israel as ‘dual use’.  The list is subject to change but has typically included a wide range of building materials such as cement, glass, steel, metal piping, as well as wiring, batteries, and electronic items used in medical and communications technologies.   

In addition to the embargo on dual use items Israel maintains a limitations regime which can prevent, and has prevented, the import of items as diverse as canned fruit, chocolate, tomato paste, crayons, wheelchairs, musical instruments, footballs, paper, macaroni and lentils. 

Israel, as well as controlling half of Gaza’s electricity supply, and almost all of its liquid fuel (diesel and petrol), used amongst other things to run generators essential for hospitals, reserves the right to reduce or cut off the import of energy and fuel, especially in response to outbreaks of violence between Hamas and Israel.  

The Israeli navy imposes a permanent blockade of the port of Gaza, and the entirety of Gaza’s Mediterranean shoreline.  All access to the sea is restricted by Israel and beyond a permitted offshore cordon completely controlled. Since 2007 Gazan fishermen have been permitted to fish at various times up to between 3 and 6 nautical miles from the shoreline, even though fish stocks are known to be severely depleted in this cordon, with larger shoals only to be found 12-15 nautical miles out to sea.  

HOW HAS THE BLOCKADE IMPACTED GAZA SINCE 2007?

Embrace does not have the expertise to accurately attribute causes and effects arising from the blockade of Gaza. However, we know that the situation in Gaza is dire. There is generic (60-80%) poverty, very high levels of unemployment, an almost total absence of potable water, intermittent electricity supply (usually around 4-6 hours per day), compounded by the devastating impacts of regular wars between Hamas and Israel, invariably leading to huge infrastructural damage, widespread and chronic social and psychological trauma, as well as hundreds of lives lost and thousands injured.    

If you wish to better understand the current state of the Gaza economy, and how it has declined since the imposition of the blockade in 2007, you may wish to refer to the World Bank latest report. 

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also regularly reports on Gaza. You can consult their reports here. 

We quote here from the World Bank report press release, which makes clear the connection between Gaza’s dire economic underdevelopment and the impacts of blockade: 

The report examines the accumulated effects of years of blockade on Gaza’s economy, which is currently a fraction of its estimated potential. Gaza’s contribution to the overall Palestinian economy was cut by half over the past three decades, narrowing to just 18 percent currently. Gaza has also undergone deindustrialization and its economy has become highly dependent on external transfers. Moreover, Gaza’s economic decline has had a severe impact on living standards with an unemployment rate of 45 percent and poverty reaching 59 percent as a result of the 11-day conflict and worsening COVID-19 conditions. Gaza’s citizens suffer from poor electricity and water-sewerage availability, conflict-related psychological trauma, and limited movement. 

“The dire living conditions and the high dependency on social assistance of the people of Gaza is of particular concern Concerted efforts by all sides are needed to address the needs identified in the Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (2021) led by the World Bank, EU, and UN to support reconstruction, and reverse the declining trajectory of Gaza development and quality of life,” added Shankar. 

Priority actions require increasing electricity supply and upgrading infrastructure and networks to enable economic growth and improve public services. This includes bringing natural gas to Gaza to unlock the renewable energy potential. With only one percent of the population having access to improved drinking water and limited wastewater treatment, there is an urgency to restore universal access to an improved water supply and to treat 95 percent of wastewater produced in Gaza. Efforts to restore connectivity of Gaza to the West Bank economy and external markets are critical, including issuing business permits to Gazan traders and easing the restrictions on dual-use inputs to production. It is also necessary to allow universal access to digital connectivity that will help connecting people and the economy to regional and global markets. It is then critical to introduce at least 3G mobile broadband in Gaza within a clear timeframe and ease restrictions on the entry of ICT equipment.  

DOES THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SUPPORT THE GAZA BLOCKADE?

This is a difficult question to answer because the international community, and individual governments and coalitions of countries have, over the years adopted ambiguous, and at times contradictory positions.  The US broadly supports the blockade. Most other governments prefer to stress the importance of humanitarian assistance being allowed to reach Gaza unimpeded, without condemning the blockade itself. A good example of this would be the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1860 of 2009. 

The UK government has, at times implied, that the blockade is counter-productive, rather than illegal or unjustified. 

By and large, what is most striking is how little the blockade is spoken about in international circles despite the indirect or direct, and most would acknowledge devastating, impact on the Gazan economy and population. 

Some non-governmental organisations and various UN bodies and initiatives have been less ambiguous. Some examples, all of which were and would still be vigorously refuted by the government of Israel, are included below: 

UN Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes (a former senior UK diplomat) referred to the blockade in 2008 as a ‘collective punishment’. 

Dec 2008: UN Special Rapporteur went further saying the embargo against Gaza was a ‘crime against humanity’. 

Sept 2009: the head of a UN factfinding mission judge Richard Goldstone concluded the blockade was possibly a crime against humanity which should be referred to the International Court of Justice 

May 2010: the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the formal economy in Gaza had collapsed since the imposition of the blockade and that the ‘restrictions imposed on the civilian population by the continuing blockade of the Gaza Strip amount to collective punishment, a violation of international humanitarian law’.