Economic situation
More than 70% of the population relies on humanitarian aid • On the eve of Operation Protection Edge, 57% of the population suffered from food insecurity • The unemployment rate was 45% in the second quarter of 2014 (compared to 18.7% in 2000) • 27 government schools in Gaza were heavily damaged or destroyed during the fighting this summer • Even before the military operation, the Strip was short over 200 schools, including 150 government schools • Classes are usually taught in two shifts • More than 100,000 housing units were damaged during the recent hostilities, including 17,000 housing units which were severely damaged or destroyed.
Access policy
Entrance of goods into Gaza: Kerem Shalom, connecting Gaza to Israel, is the only official crossing open for the transfer of goods into and out of the Strip • Israel allows entrance of civilian goods into Gaza, except for a list of materials that it defines as "dualuse", whose entry into Gaza is restricted • On September 2, basic construction materials (cement, gravel and steel) were again allowed to enter for international aid organizations and the Palestinian Water Authority • A new mechanism that is meant to allow materials in for use by the private sector has been operating for the last few months, yet what has entered is just a fraction of what is needed • Since the ceasefire, from August 26 until the end of 2014, 196,404 tons of construction material entered the Strip • Of this amount, 34,570 tons entered as a part of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism, the inspection process established by the Palestinians and Israel under UN supervision • Five million tons of construction materials are needed in the Strip for rebuilding following the hostilities this past summer and also to meet cumulative needs; the amount of materials that entered Gaza over the last four months represents about 3.9% of total need.
Exit of goods from Gaza: Currently, it is prohibited to market goods from Gaza in Israel • In November 2014, Israel canceled a seven-year ban on the marketing of some commodities from Gaza in the West Bank, though it reinstated a ban on strawberries in early 2015 • During 2014, an average of 19 truckloads of goods exited Gaza for the West Bank, less than 2% of what exited monthly on the eve of the closure in 2007.
Travel between Gaza and the West Bank: The only crossings through which people are permitted to travel to and from the Gaza Strip are Erez (to Israel) and Rafah (to Egypt) • Until Operation Protective Edge, Israel allowed passage through Erez only "in exceptional humanitarian cases, with an emphasis on urgent medical cases" in addition to some merchants • After the cessation of hostilities, Israel changed some of the criteria for travel from Gaza, but these remain very narrow • During 2014, there were approximately 6,270 exits of Palestinians recorded per month at the Erez crossing – still mostly traders, patients and their companions • This represents a 32% increase compared to the monthly average in 2013.
Travel from Gaza to the outside world: Such travel takes place mostly through Egypt • During the first half of 2013, approximately 40,000 people transited at Rafah in both directions • Starting in July 2013, Egypt began limiting passage to exceptional cases only, following instability in the country, as well as limiting the days of operation of the crossing • The average number of crossings per month in both directions at Rafah in 2014 was approximately 8,119, compared with an average of 25,147 departures and arrivals in 2013 • Through its control of the Palestinian population registry, Israel has indirect control over the issuing of Palestinian passports, which are required for travel through Rafah.
Access to the Gaza Strip's land, territorial waters and air space: Israel prevents all access to and from the Gaza Strip by sea and air • Following the end of Operation Protective Edge, on August 27, the fishing zone was changed again, expanding to six nautical miles from the coast and the “buffer zone” along the border was reduced to 100 meters.
Gisha's position
By virtue of Israel's substantial control of the Gaza Strip, international law requires Israel to facilitate normal life in the Strip, including by allowing access for civilians and civilian goods. Alongside this obligation, Israel has the authority to decide by which routes both people and goods enter and leave Gaza and to establish reasonable and proportionate security measures to prevent the transfer of weapons and other military activity. Accordingly, Gisha's position is that Israel must lift the sweeping restrictions that remain and allow entrance of construction materials, sale of goods to the West Bank and Israel and travel of people between Gaza and the West Bank, subject to individual security inspections. Since Egypt has begun to reduce the flow of people through the Rafah crossing, Gaza residents have no almost no possibility of leaving Gaza . Israel has a responsibility to allow regular movement of people and goods between Gaza and the West Bank, which continue to share a single economy, a single education system, a single healthcare system and countless familial, cultural and social ties.