Gaza Under Occupation

International Law
Restrictions on movement near border
farmland
Restrictions on Fishing
Economic Strangulation
Humanitarian Crisis

8. Gaza

Palestinian children travel to an UNRWA school to seek shelter after evacuating their homes near the border in Gaza
City on July 13, 2014. (UN/Shareef Sarhan)

8.1

Gaza Under Occupation

Since the early 1990s, Israel has restricted passage to and from occupied Gaza, but in 2006,
following Hamas victory in Palestinian elections, Israel tightened its restrictions severely and
imposed a total naval blockade on the tiny coastal enclave.

2011 Map of Gaza, provided by Israeli human rights organization GISHA

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8.1.1 International Law

Israels siege and naval blockade of Gaza are acts of collective punishment, which is illegal
under international law, and is considered as such by the United Nations and human rights
organizations such as Amnesty International.
A 2009 Amnesty International report following Operation Cast Lead, Israels devastating
military assault on Gaza in the winter of 2008-9, stated:
The prolonged blockade of Gaza, which had already been in place for some 18
months before the current fighting began, amounts to collective punishment of its
entire population.
The Fourth Geneva Convention specifically prohibits collective punishment. Its
Article 33 provides: No protected person may be punished for an offence he or
she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of
intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. 1
In 2011, the UN released the so-called Palmer Report on Israels attack against the Freedom
Flotilla in May 2010 that killed nine Turkish activists (one of them a US citizen). The report
deemed Israels blockade legal, however it was widely considered a politicized whitewash,
containing the important caveat that its conclusions can not be considered definitive in either
fact or law." Shortly after the Palmer Report was released, an independent UN panel of experts
released a report concluding that Israels blockade of Gaza does violate international law, stating
that it amounts to collective punishment in "flagrant contravention of international human rights
and humanitarian law." 2 The International Committee of the Red Cross and a UN fact-finding
mission into Israels attack on the Freedom Flotilla reached the same conclusion in 2010.
Israeli officials have admitted that the siege is not motivated primarily by security concerns,
but is part of a strategy of "economic warfare" against the people of Gaza. In 2006, senior advisor
to then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Dov Weisglass, said the goal of the Gaza siege was to put
the 1.6 million people of Gaza on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.
Despite the fact that Israel loosened restrictions under international pressure following the
assault on the Freedom Flotilla in 2010, the siege and blockade continue to strangle Gaza
economically. According to a 2012 Human Rights Watch report:
Israels punitive closure of the Gaza Strip, tightened after Hamass takeover of Gaza
in June 2007, continued to have severe humanitarian and economic consequences
for the civilian population...Gazas economy grew rapidly, but the World Bank said
the growth depended on international assistance. The economy had not returned to
pre-closure levels; daily wages, for instance, had declined 23 percent since 2007.
Israels near-total restrictions on exports from Gaza hindered economic recovery.
Due to low per capita income, 51 percent of the population was unable to buy
sufficient food, according to UN aid agencies. 3
1 See

the report: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/007/2009/en/4c407b40-e64c-11dd-9917ed717fa5078d/mde150072009en.html#2.2.4.1.2.4%20Collective%20punishment%7Coutline

2 See the report: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/un-independent-panel-rules-israel-blockade-ofgaza-illegal-1.384267
3 See the report: http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-israeloccupied-palestinian-territories

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8.1.2 Restrictions on movement near border farmland

In May 2010, Israel declared no-go zones within 300 meters (328 yards) from the wall that
surrounds Gaza. In practice, however, the UN has concluded that the no-go zone is actually 500
meters (546 yards). Palestinians who venture into this area risk being shot by Israeli soldiers
without warning. Numerous Palestinian civilians, including children and the elderly, have been
wounded and killed in these areas.
Human rights organizations such as BTselem have documented dozens of cases of cases in
which Israeli soldiers opened fire at people who posed no threat and were much farther than 300
meters (328 yards) from the wall - up to 1,500 meters (1640 yards) away. 4 According to UN
statistics, the area of the official no-go zones, together with the area in which entry is effectively
restricted due to a real risk of gunfire, covers about 39 square miles, or 17% of the total area of
Gaza. The no-go zones affect some 113,000 Palestinians (7.5% of Gazas population), causing
harm to their homes, land, workplaces, and schools. Seven schools are located in these areas.
8.1.3 Restrictions on Fishing

Palestinian fishing boat off the coast of Gaza. Photo by Max Blumenthal.

In the Interim Agreement signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization as part
of the Oslo Accords during the 1990s, Israel agreed to allow fishing boats from Gaza to travel
some 20 nautical miles from shore, except for several buffer zones near the borders with Israel
and Egypt to which they were denied entry altogether. But according to a 2011 report from
BTselem: In practice, however, Israel did not issue permits to all the fishermen who requested
them, and allowed fishing up to a distance of 12 nautical miles.
Since Operation Cast Lead, Israels devastating military assault on Gaza in the winter of
2008-9, the Israeli navy has reduced that limit to three nautical miles.
According to the aforementioned 2011 BTselem report:
4 See

BTselem: http://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/forbidden_zones

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In addition to the harsh restrictions on fishing, BTselem has documented cases in

which naval forces have attacked and harassed fishermen. The documented cases
include, for example, gunfire, detention, delay, and confiscation of boats and fishing
equipment.
The prohibition on entering deep waters and the danger now inherent to every
excursion to sea deny fishermen access to areas abundant with fish, limiting their
catches [to] small fish of poor quality. As a result, it is extremely hard to earn a
living from fishing, or even cover fishing expenses. Given the lack of other sources
of income in the Gaza Strip, some fishermen are left no option but to violate the
prohibition and endanger their lives.
8.1.4 Economic Strangulation
Export of Palestinian goods, the import of raw materials and access to Gazas natural resources
have been severely restricted, devastating Gazan businesses and the ability of the region to be
self-sufficient, thereby rendering it dependent on international aid. For example:
Economic output per capita has fallen by 40 percent of 1994 levels.
95 percent of Gazas 3,900 industrial businesses are closed or have suspended work. The
other five percent are operating at 20 to 50 percent of capacity. This has cost between
100,000 and 120,000 jobs.
Israeli restrictions block access to 35 percent of Gazas agricultural land and fishermen
are forbidden to fish beyond 3 nautical miles from the shore. In 2010, employment in
agriculture fell from 14,900 to 10,100.
While Gaza needs 670,000 truckloads of construction material, an average of 715 enter
per month, at 11 percent of pre-blockade levels. The construction industry now has 10,000
workers, 42 percent of pre-blockade levels.
Unemployment is at 45.2 percent, with only 40.3 percent of working-age Gazans in the
labor force. Youth unemployment is at more than 47 percent.
290 truckloads of exports were allowed out of Gaza between November 2010 and May
2011. Before the siege, more than 960 truckloads a month exited Gaza. This is only five
percent of pre-blockade levels.
In 2011, a weekly average of 900 truckloads of goods entered Gaza. Before the siege,
2,807 truckloads entered weekly.
On March 2, 2011, Israel closed the Karni crossing, forcing importers and exporters to use
the Kerem Shalom crossing. For wheat exporters, this increased transport costs by 235
percent and for wheat importers by 30 percent.
Between June 2010 and March 2011, the cost of wheat flour increased by 50 percent and
vegetable oil increased by 40 percent. Meanwhile, the average wage has decreased by
more than 25 percent since 2007.
Gazan households spend 56 percent of their expenditures on food, with 52.5 percent eating
lower quality food and 67 percent buying food on credit as a result of high food costs. 5
8.1.5 Humanitarian Crisis
The amount of goods allowed into Gaza by Israel falls far short of the minimum required to avoid
malnutrition, poverty, and prevent or treat a variety of illnesses. The United Nations fact-finding
mission regarding Israels attack on the 2010 humanitarian flotilla found that "a deplorable
5 See

the IMEUs Factsheet on Gaza: http://imeu.net/news/printer0019136.shtml

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situation exists in Gaza" that "is totally intolerable and unacceptable in the twenty-first century.
It is amazing that anyone could characterize the condition of the people there as satisfying the
most basic standards."
Consider the following statistics:
54 percent of households face food insecurity, defined as inadequate physical, social or
economic access to food. An additional 12 percent are considered vulnerable to food
insecurity. Only 20 percent of Gazan households are food secure.
38 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
Since the blockade began, the number of Palestinian refugees completely unable to secure
access to food and lacking the means to purchase even the most basic items, such as soap,
school stationery and safe drinking water (abject poverty) has tripled to 300,000.
75 percent of households polled by the World Food Programme in the Gaza Strip received
outside aid.
Gazas hospitals are at "zero stock levels" for 178 of 480 essential medications, with
another 69 at low stock. Of 700 essential medical supplies, 190 are at "zero stock levels"
and another 70 at low stock.
Due to lack of fuel, the Gaza Power Plant runs at 45 percent capacity, leading to daily
blackouts of eight to twelve hours. Given this fuel shortage, 90 percent of private cars
are no longer driven and of public services, only 15 percent are operational. (Palestinian
Centre for Human Rights, The Illegal Closure of the Gaza Strip: Collective Punishment of
the Civilian Population, December 10, 2010)
In the Gaza Strip, 95 percent of water sources are unfit for drinking. Water-borne diseases
cause 26 percent of illnesses in Gaza.
Because of lack of treatment capacity and electricity, Gaza authorities must release around
80,000 cubic meters of sewage into the Mediterranean Sea on a daily basis.
The construction of 86,000 houses is required to meet natural growth and recover from
previous Israeli invasions. 6

6 See

the IMEUs Factsheet on Gaza: http://imeu.net/news/printer0019136.shtml