The restrictions on movement and goods in the Gaza Strip imposed by Israel date to the early 1990s, during its military occupation of the Gaza Strip (1967–2005). After Hamas took over in 2007, Israel significantly intensified existing movement restrictions and imposed a blockade on the movement of goods and people in and out of the Gaza Strip. In the same year, Egypt closed the Rafah border crossing. Israel's stated aims were to hold Hamas accountable for rocket attacks on Israeli territory; to constrain Hamas's ability to rule in Gaza; and to put pressure on it to release Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier abducted in June 2006. While the blockade's legality has not been adjudicated in court, human rights groups believe it would be deemed illegal and that it is a form of collective punishment, as it restricts the flow of essential goods, contributes to economic hardship, and limits Gazans' freedom of movement. The land, sea, and air blockade isolated Gaza from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory and the world. The blockade and its effects have led to the territory being called an "open-air prison".
Exit and entry into Gaza by sea or air is prohibited. There are only three crossings in and out of Gaza, two of them controlled by Israel and one by Egypt. Israel heavily regulates Palestinians' movement through the Erez Crossing, with applications considered only for merchants, workers, and limited medical and humanitarian reasons. Before the Gaza war began in 2023, exits via Erez averaged approximately 40,000 per month. Israel's military cooperation with Egypt and its control of the population registry (through which it controls who can obtain the necessary travel documents) gives it influence over movement through Rafah. Imports are heavily restricted, with "dual use" items permitted only as part of donor projects. This includes construction material and computer equipment. Exports are also heavily restricted, with the main impediment to economic development in Gaza being Israel's ban on virtually all exports from the Strip.
Israel blockaded the Gaza Strip at various levels of intensity in 2005–2006. Israeli-imposed closures date to 1991. In 2007, after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, Israel imposed an indefinite blockade of Gaza that remains in place, on the grounds that Fatah and Palestinian Authority forces had fled the Strip and were no longer able to provide security on the Palestinian side. Israel has said the blockade is necessary to protect itself from Palestinian political violence and rocket attacks, and to prevent dual use goods from entering Gaza.
Israel has been accused of violating or failing to fulfill specific obligations it has under various ceasefire agreements to alleviate or lift the blockade. "Crossings were repeatedly shut and buffer zones were reinstated. Imports declined, exports were blocked, and fewer Gazans were given exit permits to Israel and the West Bank." Human rights groups, international community representatives, and legal professionals have decried the blockade as a form of collective punishment in contravention of international law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention. Rights groups have held Israel mainly responsible as the occupying power.
Background
Israeli imposed closure on the movement of goods and people to and from Gaza dates back to 1991 when Israel cancelled the general exit permit for Palestinians in the occupied territories. This policy was initially temporary, but developed into a permanent administrative measure in March 1993 after heightened levels of violence by Palestinians inside Israel. Since then, the closure has become an institutionalized system in Gaza (and the West Bank), and has varied in intensity but never been completely lifted. As the closure was coming into place, academics and diplomats were already describing it as a form of collective punishment, a trend that continues in more recent times. For example, between 1993 and 1996, total closure was imposed on the Gaza Strip for a cumulative 342 days. During periods of total closure, Israel enforced a complete ban on any movement of people or goods between Gaza and Israel, the West Bank and foreign markets. The economic impact of these closures during 1996 alone was estimated by the World Bank as amounting to losses of almost 40% of Gaza's GNP. In 1994, Israel built the Gaza–Israel barrier as a security measure, despite this, Israeli security establishment has described the closure as having limited value against extremist attacks. Since then, there are four border crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip through the barrier: the Kerem Shalom, Karni, Erez, and Sufa crossings. All goods bound for Gaza as well as exports passing through Israel must use one of these crossings, and undergo security inspection before being permitted to enter or leave Gaza.
In 2005, Israel withdrew its settlers and forces from the Gaza Strip, redeploying its military along the border. Following Hamas' electoral victory and subsequent military confrontation with opposing party Fatah which led to Hamas taking control over all of Gaza in 2007, Israel further tightened restrictions in an attempt to exert economic pressure on Hamas. With this new tightening of restrictions, all trade was ceased and the entrance of goods was limited to a "humanitarian minimum", allowing only those good which are "essential to the survival of the civilian population". Israeli security officials have described the ban on exports as "a political decision to separate Gaza from the West Bank" further describing it as a matter of "political-security" and a form of "economic warfare".
Additionally, starting in 2009, Egypt built an underground Egypt–Gaza barrier along the Egypt–Gaza border. The stated aim was to block smuggling tunnels. The Rafah Border Crossing is the only lawful crossing point between Egypt and Gaza, and was manned by PA security forces and the European Union Border Assistance Mission Rafah. All humanitarian and other supplies passing through Israel or Egypt must pass through these crossings after security inspection.
Until 2013, there were hundreds of smuggling tunnels dug under the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle goods, including fuel, into Gaza to bypass the blockade.
2005–2006 blockades
On 12 September 2005, the final day of the Israeli withdrawal, international politicians such as France's foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy and Jordan's deputy prime minister Marwan Muasher warned of Gaza being turned into an open-air prison. Four days later, Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General Assembly:
It is incumbent upon Israel to turn this unilateral withdrawal into a positive step in a real way. We must quickly resolve all outstanding major issues, including the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, the airport and the seaport, as well as the establishment of a direct link between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Without this, Gaza will remain a huge prison.
Following the disengagement, human rights groups alleged that Israel frequently blockaded Gaza in order to apply pressure on the population "in response to political developments or attacks by armed groups in Gaza on Israeli civilians or soldiers". The special envoy of the Quartet James Wolfensohn noted that security measures made the passage of goods into Gaza slow, that "incidents of violence by the Palestinians and vigorous reprisals by the Israelis" were happening, and that "Gaza had been effectively sealed off from the outside world since the Israeli disengagement [August–September 2005], and the humanitarian and economic consequences for the Palestinian population were profound. There were already food shortages. Palestinian workers and traders to Israel were unable to cross the border".
On 15 January 2006, the Karni crossing – the sole point for exports of goods from Gaza – was closed completely for all kinds of exports. The greenhouse project suffered a huge blow, as the harvest of high-value crops, meant to be exported for Europe via Israel, was essentially lost (with a small part of the harvest donated to local institutions). Moreover, closing of Karni cut off the so-far resilient textile and furniture industries in Gaza from their source of income. Starting February 2006, the Karni crossing was sporadically open for exports, but the amount of goods allowed to be exported was minuscule compared to the amount of goods imported (which, in turn, barely supported Gaza's needs). Between 1 January and 11 May, more than 12,700 tonnes of produce were harvested in Gaza's greenhouses, almost all of it destined for export; out of it, only 1,600 tonnes (less than 13%) were actually exported.
Sanctions on Hamas-led PA governments
The election for the Palestinian Legislative Council took place on 25 January 2006, and was won by Hamas. The election took place during a full blockade of Gaza. After the PLC was sworn in on 18 February 2006, in addition to its blockade of the Gaza Strip, Israel imposed other sanctions on the PA, including withholding the PA's tax revenue (collected by Israel on the PA's behalf), and imposing travel restrictions on Hamas PLC members. Israel's position is that Hamas is a terrorist organisation that has vowed to destroy Israel, and is responsible for the death of hundreds of its citizens, and neither wanted to have any direct relations with the other. On 20 February, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was nominated to form a new PA government, which was sworn in on 29 March.
Besides Israel's position in relation to a Hamas-led PA government, following the election, the Quartet on the Middle East had said that continued aid to and dialogue with the PA under a Hamas government was conditional on Hamas agreeing to three conditions: recognition of Israel, the disavowal of violent actions, and acceptance of previous agreements between Israel and the PA, including the Oslo Accords. Haniyeh refused to accept these conditions, and the Quartet stopped all dialogue with the PA and especially any member of the Hamas government, ceased providing aid to the PA and imposed sanctions against the PA under Hamas. Though initially opposed by the United States, a Quartet member, the US government agreed in April 2006 to discontinue $400 million of foreign aid to the PA. Instead the US redirected $100 million to the United Nations and other non-Palestinian groups, but no aid money was given directly to the government of Mahmoud Abbas.
As noted by Wolfensohn (and also in an EU paper), withholding of the PA's own tax revenue – an action taken by Israel alone, not by the Quartet – was more damaging than the ceasing of international aid to the PA. These taxes, collected in Palestine (both in the West Bank and Gaza) by Israeli authorities, were supposed to be transferred to the PA's budget. By releasing or withholding these revenues, Israel was able, in the words of the International Crisis Group, to "virtually turn the Palestinian economy on and off". Israel withheld these transfers from the PA until June 2007. Withholding the tax revenue by Israel meant that the PA lacked money to pay its employees, including the police, further destabilizing the situation in Gaza.
In March 2007, Fatah agreed to join Hamas in a PA unity government, also headed by Haniyeh. Shortly after, in June, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip during the Battle of Gaza, seizing PA government institutions in the Strip and replacing Fatah and other PA officials with Hamas members.
Following the takeover, in the West Bank, President Mahmoud Abbas officially dissolved the Haniyeh-led PA government, suspended parts of the Basic Law, and created a new PA government by decree, without approval of the PLC. This government was recognized by the international community, and international relations and aid to the PA government in the West Bank resumed, the economic sanctions were lifted, and Israel resumed the transfer of tax revenue to it.
In the autumn of 2007, Israel designated the Gaza Strip, under Hamas control, as a hostile entity, and instituted a series of sanctions which encompassed power reductions, stringent import restrictions, and border closures. In January 2008, in response to ongoing rocket attacks on its southern communities, Israel expanded its sanctions, fully sealing its border with the Gaza Strip and temporarily halting fuel imports. Later in January, following nearly a week of the heightened Israeli blockade, Hamas militants dismantled sections of the barrier along the Gaza Strip-Egypt border, which was closed from Hamas's takeover in mid-2007 until 2011, creating openings that, as per estimations, allowed hundreds of thousands of Gazans to cross into Egypt to procure food, fuel, and other goods unattainable due to the blockade. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak temporarily allowed the border breach to mitigate civilian suffering in Gaza, prior to initiating efforts to reestablish the border.
History
Early 2000s
During the Second Intifada, Israel blockaded the Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip, several times. In Gaza, the blockade caused unemployment to skyrocket to 85%. Christian Aid reported that malnourishment among children doubled in one year due to the blockade. Clinics run by Middle East Council of Churches also reported treating increasing numbers of underweight and malnourished children.
June 2007 – January 2008
In June 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in the Battle of Gaza, and removed Fatah officials. Following the Hamas takeover, the sanctions put in place after Hamas's 2006 electoral victory were dramatically tightened. Truck transits, which had been 12,000 per month in 2005, were reduced to 2,000 by November of that year, when in a further measure, in the context of Hamas rocket fire and Israeli attacks, food supplies were halved, fuel imports slashed and foreign currency restricted by the latter.
Following the Hamas takeover in Gaza, Egypt and Israel largely sealed their border crossings with Gaza, on the grounds that Fatah had fled and the PA was no longer providing security on the Palestinian side.
In July 2007, Israeli officials said they had been planning to open the Rafah border crossing to allow stranded Palestinians to return, but claimed that this plan had been cancelled after Hamas threatened to fire on the refugees.
A Jerusalem Post article mentioned Hamas' complaints that since June 2008 the PA no longer granted passports to Gazans, thereby "preventing tens of thousands of Palestinians from being able to travel abroad".
Egypt, fearing a spill-over of Hamas-style militancy into its territory, kept its border with Gaza largely sealed. Israel sealed the border completely on 17 January in response to rocket attacks on southern Israel and Palestinian militant attacks on crossing points between Israel and Gaza.
The Egyptian government feared also that Iran wanted to establish a base in its territory as well as in Gaza through its proxy Hezbollah following the 2009 Hezbollah plot in Egypt.