Since May 2021, Israel has delayed and prevented the entry into Gaza of items needed urgently for maintenance and improvement of Gaza’s water and sewage systems, exacerbating the risk of collapse
Reports
A Guide to Israel’s Unknowable Policy on Movement of Goods to and from the Gaza Strip
March 18, 2021. This month marks one year since the start of the pandemic, 12 months during which even the world’s strongest economies and healthcare systems were pushed to the brink.
In light of the decision reached by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to extend the court's territorial jurisdiction to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, Gisha wishes to make the following points:
Israel is obligated to protect the health and safety of all people living under its control, including by ensuring that the vaccine is available in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. This will necessarily require close cooperation with Palestinian authorities and the international community, but their involvement does not absolve Israel from its ultimate responsibility toward Palestinians living under occupation. Where needed, Israel must contribute to covering the cost of the vaccine and its distribution, unconditionally.
To mark International Human Rights Day, Gisha is proud to release a gender analysis of Israel’s permit regime in Gaza. Israel's official policy on travel by Palestinians to and from the Strip is detailed in the "Status of Authorizations," a document produced by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). The criteria listed in the document and its numerous ancillary procedures dictate the few and narrow circumstances in which Palestinians are eligible to apply for a travel permit from Israel.
In early March 2020, Israel severely tightened existing restrictions on movement of people to and from Gaza against the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak. Unlike in Israel itself and in the rest of the world, where temporary lockdowns have been eased and sometimes reinstated, for seven months Israel has continued to limit exit from Gaza to patients in need of urgent medical care and their companions, with rare exceptions. As a result, traffic at Erez Crossing has plummeted to just 3% of what it was at the beginning of 2020.
The last six months have been a real roller coaster ride for Gaza’s textile industry. The global outbreak of coronavirus initially brought with it an avalanche of orders for masks…