Gaza Under Siege | Hamas-Israel War | World largest Open-Air prison

Israel’s ‘Open-Air Prision’:

More than sixty years since the end of the six-day war, Israel’s Occupation of the Palestinian Territory has permeated into every facet of everyday life for the 4.8 million Palestinians living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
The burden of the conflict and the ongoing occupation are causing debilitating hardship for communities. 50 percent of the population rely on aid, almost two and half million people are trapped inside Gaza with little access to the most basic services. Millions of Palestinians are denied the right to movement and are separated from their families and opportunities.
Gaza, a narrow stretch of land sandwiched between Israel and Egypt one of the world's most densely populated areas, with more than 6,500 inhabitants per square kilometer. It shares a land border with Israel to the east and north, the Egypt to the south and the Mediterranean Sea to west.
More than 60 years of occupation and 17 years of blockade have made the lives of 2.3 million Palestinians living inside the Gaza Strip unbearable. That why it is often described as ‘the world’s largest open-air prison’ because no one is allowed to enter or leave.
The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli land, air and sea blockade for the best part of two decades. That has meant that the people of Gaza are cut off from the rest of the world.
The Gaza Strip is surrounded by seven crossings that were designated for the movement of people and goods into and out of the Strip.
Not all of them are still in use except for the Rafah and Erez crossings, which were designated for the movement of people, and the Karem Abu Salem crossing, which was designated for the transport of goods.
Since 2007, Israeli authorities have, with narrow exceptions, banned Palestinians from leaving through Erez, the passenger crossing from Gaza into Israel, through which they can reach the West Bank and travel abroad via Jordan. Israel’s closure policy preventing professionals, artists, athletes, students, and others from pursuing opportunities within Palestine and from traveling abroad via Israel, restricting their rights to work and an education. Israel also prevents Palestinian authorities from operating an airport or seaport in Gaza. Israeli authorities also sharply restrict the entry and exit of goods.
Restrictive Egyptian policies at its Rafah crossing with Gaza, including unnecessary delays and mistreatment of travelers, have exacerbated the closure’s harm to human rights.
Gaza’s coastal waters are under naval blockade, preventing fishing beyond a restricted zone. Fishing zone reduced from 6 to 3 nautical miles, preventing fishermen from accessing 85% of the fishing waters agreed under the Oslo Accords.
Israel not only deprived rights of Gaza’s inhabitants from their maritime exclusive economic zone but it denied its excess to their Territorial Sea, given under the charter of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. From 12 nautical miles territorial sea and 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone, only 3 nautical miles of sea water is accessible for Gaza’s people.
The illegal Israeli blockade has been in place for more than two decades. The consequences are huge and the humanitarian needs enormous: It has devastated Gaza’s economy, left most people unable to leave Gaza, have access to food, water, essential services such as healthcare and education, and cut Palestinians off from each other.
Besides, the blockade prevents trading with the outside world and markets in the West Bank and restricts vital reconstruction material from entering. Massive fuel shortages have led to power cuts of up to 20 hours, leaving hospitals, schools and small businesses struggling to keep going, and water and sanitation systems often failing.
80 percent of the population relies on humanitarian aid to survive. Many key industries have been decimated and 50 percent of youth are unemployed - the highest rate in the world.
A 2011 United Nations report stated that the blockade was “collective punishment … in flagrant contravention of international human rights and international law” and in 2022 United Nations Human Rights Watch called it, Israel’s ‘Open-Air Prison’.
Illegal occupation, severe restrictions and human right abuses against unarmed civilians, Denial for self-determination of Palestinian give rise to violent Islamic resistance movements, most notably Hamas and Islamic Jihad. For peaceful solution of Palestinian conflict the international community must now finally tackle the root causes of injustice and violence that is being perpetrated under the occupation.