Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Suffocating: The Gaza Strip Under Israeli Blockade
Suffocating: The Gaza Strip Under Israeli Blockade
© Iad al-Nadim
Left: Halima Mslih and her children Nour,
Nancy, Nariman, and Nirmeen outside the
temporary structure where the family lives after
their home was destroyed by the Israeli
military.
Above: Samir al-Nadim, a father of three
children, died after his exit from Gaza for a
heart operation was delayed by 22 days. By the
time the Israeli authorities allowed him to leave
on 29 October 2009, Samir was unconscious
and on a respirator. On his arrival in a West
Bank hospital, he was too ill for surgeons
to operate and he died of heart failure on
© Amnesty International
FAMILIES WITH NO HOME “We stayed for the first two days of bombing PATIENTS UNDER SIEGE
TO GO TO but when they shelled the house beside
ours, we left. We didn’t take anything with Since the military offensive in Gaza ended,
One year after Operation “Cast Lead” us... when we returned everything was the already struggling health sector has
more than 20,000 people displaced from broken, people were giving us food because faced an uphill battle to get back on its feet.
their homes during the Israeli military we had nothing.” During the ongoing blockade it has been
offensive continue to live in temporary Mohammed Mslih plagued by shortages in equipment and
accommodation. Some families are able medical supplies. World Health
to rent flats but many live in tents or other For the first six months after they returned Organization (WHO) trucks of medical
rudimentary housing, or stay with relatives to Juhor al-Dik, the family lived in a nylon equipment bound for Gazan hospitals have
in already overcrowded homes. tent, which leaked when it rained. They repeatedly been turned away, without
replaced this with a more robust temporary explanation, by Israeli border officials.
structure (see picture) and are constructing
THE MSLIH FAMILY a simple but permanent home with breeze Following the Israeli closure of crossings,
blocks. The family fear, however, that people with medical conditions that cannot
Mohammed and Halima Mslih and their continuing Israeli military incursions could be treated in Gaza have been required
four young children live in the village of destroy the little they have left. to apply for permits to leave the territory to
Juhor al-Dik, south of Gaza City. The family receive treatment in either foreign hospitals
fled their home there at the beginning of “Since July the army has been coming to or Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank.
Operation “Cast Lead”. While they were the area [during incursions]... the soldiers The Israeli authorities frequently delay or
away, their home was demolished by Israeli told us ‘you haven’t seen anything yet; next refuse these permits.
army bulldozers. time we will bring the houses down on your
heads’.”
Halima Mslih
© Amnesty International
Furthermore, the permits require extensive SCHOOLCHILDREN LEARN Children stand outside the Omar Bin Khatab
supporting documentation that must be HARSH LIFE LESSONS Girls’ Primary School. Because of the shortage
obtained both from hospitals in Gaza and of glass, the classroom windows cannot be
from the Ministry of Health in Ramallah, More than half the population of Gaza is repaired.
in the West Bank. Because of the poor younger than 18 years old. Children’s
co-ordination between the opposing everyday activities, such as going to school,
Palestinian factions, Hamas in Gaza and are severely affected by the continuing plastic sheeting and wood. As they try to
Fatah in the West Bank, obtaining the blockade. learn, children contend with classrooms
necessary documents is subject to either open to the elements, or with no
bureaucratic delays. Delays in granting At the start of the 2009-2010 school year, natural light. In late December 2009, under
permits for travel through the Rafah crossing many pupils in Gaza had to study without pressure from UN Secretary-General Ban
have also ocurred on the Egyptian side. textbooks or writing supplies, as truckloads Ki-moon, Israel announced that it would
of classroom materials were held up by allow glass to be transported into Gaza.
The WHO has pointed out the risks arising Israel at the Kerem Shalom crossing point
from delays to those in urgent need of (see map on page 7).
medical treatment, and has indicated that
28 patients died while waiting for their During the Israeli military operation of
permits in 2009, 14 of whom were waiting 2008-2009, 280 of the 641 schools in Gaza
to pass through the Erez crossing into were damaged and 18 destroyed. Repairing
Israel. It is possible that some of these the damaged schools has proved extremely
deaths might not have occurred but for difficult because of the blockade and the
delays caused by the blockade. continuing restrictions on the entry of
construction materials. With glass almost
unobtainable in the year following Operation
“Cast Lead”, the broken windows of
damaged schools can only be covered with
INDUSTRY AND LIVELIHOODS The core of the mill was hit, destroying Hamdan Hamada stands by his destroyed flour
GROUND TO DUST three floors and the machinery required mill in Gaza.
to process grain into flour. The storage
Operation “Cast Lead” destroyed or severely facilities in the sides of the main building
damaged the buildings, equipment or stock were also damaged, ruining the wheat One year after Operation “Cast Lead”, the
of 700 private enterprises from the contained inside. The total cost of the Hamada family cannot obtain even a
industrial, agricultural and business sectors. building and equipment lost in the attack, fraction of the cement and iron needed to
The blockade, which stifles Palestinian including a computerized purification repair the building. The brothers have
trade by limiting imports and virtually system, was US$209,000. compiled a list of the specific machinery
banning exports, makes rebuilding they need to replace in order to resume
damaged businesses – and lives – almost “The nature of the strikes, in particular the production, but the Israeli authorities refuse
impossible. precise targeting of crucial machinery, to allow them to bring the items into Gaza.
suggests that the intention was to disable
the factory in terms of its productive Before 2000, the private sector in Gaza
THE BADER FLOUR MILL capacity.” employed more than 110,000 people, but
Report of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza the rapid economic demise has led to
Conflict (2009), paragraph 50
The Bader flour mill in Sudania, west of spiralling job losses. In December 2009, the
Jabalia, north-west of Gaza City, was UN reported an unemployment rate in Gaza
repeatedly hit in aerial attacks on 10 of more than 40 per cent.
January 2009. The mill, run by the Hamada
brothers, used to employ about 85 people,
and supported a wider circle of the
employees’ families in the area.
FISHING AND FARMING – DANGEROUS authorities have progressively reduced the CONCLUSION
PROFESSIONS area in which they allow Palestinian
fishermen to work. Following Operation As the occupying power, Israel has a duty
During Operation “Cast Lead”, Israel “Cast Lead” the permitted fishing area was under international humanitarian law to
extended the “buffer zone” it imposes on decreased further still from up to six to just ensure the welfare of the population of Gaza
Palestinian land along the eastern and three nautical miles – even so, some of the without discrimination. Israel must uphold
northern edge of the Gaza Strip. This zone fishermen in Gaza port have complained to the population’s human rights, including
now extends two kilometres into the Gaza Amnesty International that they get shot at the rights to health, to education, to work
Strip in some places, swallowing 30 per after just two and half miles. Waters closest and to an adequate standard of living,
cent of Gaza’s agricultural land. Farmers to the coast typically have low quantities of which includes the rights to food and
and other Palestinians entering this area small fish. This limited catch, combined adequate housing.
risk being shot by the Israeli military. The with rising fuel prices, mean that taking out
Israeli military also regularly fires at the larger boats risks making an overall The blockade constitutes collective
Palestinian fishermen to enforce its ban on loss. Gazan fishermen increasingly use punishment under international law. By
fishing more than three nautical miles off small boats for their meagre catches, preventing the entry of desperately needed
the coast of Gaza – just one indication of leaving the larger boats unused and rusting materials and support for rehabilitation and
Israel’s continuing control over Gaza’s in the harbour. reconstruction after Operation “Cast Lead”,
borders and airspace. the Israeli government is continuing to
“In no case may a people be deprived of its compound the suffering of civilians in Gaza
Fishing used to be a major industry in Gaza own means of subsistence.” and is violating its binding legal obligations.
providing much-needed employment and International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, Article 1 (2)
income to local families. Since 2000, when
Palestinians were permitted to fish up to
20 nautical miles offshore, the Israeli
Amnesty International is a global movement of 2.2 million people in more January 2010
than 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of Index: MDE 15/002/2010
human rights.
Amnesty International
Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the International Secretariat
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human Peter Benenson House
rights standards. 1 Easton Street
London WC1X 0DW
We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest United Kingdom
or religion – funded mainly by our membership and public donations. www.amnesty.org