Crossings update: Travel through Erez and Rafah Crossing severely limited; Kerem Shalom Crossing working as usual
March 16, 2020. Due to concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 virus, exit through Erez Crossing is currently limited mostly to medical patients and their companions.
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Updates
2020
Crossings update: Israel to impose extensive travel restrictions at Erez Crossing over Coronavirus concerns
March 11, 2020. From Thursday, exit from Gaza will be limited to patients seeking urgent medical treatment and their companions, Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, Palestinian West Bank residents, “exceptional humanitarian cases,” and foreign nationals.
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Increase in Gaza’s unemployment rate in 2019
March 5, 2020. In 2019, Gaza’s unemployment rate averaged 45.1% compared to 43.1% in 2018. The gap between the unemployment rate in Gaza and the West Bank remains staggering; Gaza’s rate is more than triple that of the West Bank.
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Gaza’s crossings return to normal operations; access to “fishing zone” restored
February 24-27, 2020. After three days in which Israel closed Erez Crossing to exit from Gaza and two days of limiting transfer of goods via Kerem Shalom, the crossings have returned to normal operations. Read more >>
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Easing, punishment, easings, repeat.
February 23, 2020. On Tuesday, February 18, the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced an increase in permits for Gaza traders to 7,000 permits. It’s never quite that simple.
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Collective punishment continues
February 18, 2020. Israel continues to collectively punish Gaza residents. On Saturday, COGAT again announced that “civilian measures” that it had planned to implement were cancelled as punishment for rocket fire launched from the Strip.
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Israel reduces Gaza’s “fishing zone” again in act of collective punishment
February 6, 2020. Yesterday COGAT announced that as of 16:00 that day, fishermen’s access to Gaza’s sea space would be limited to a distance of up to ten nautical miles.
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Israel announces a freeze to all “easings”
February 3, 2020. The decision to freeze the implementation of the various measures, accompanied by the portrayal of these measures as “easings” or “gestures,” is a familiar pattern of collective punishment.
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Gisha’s statement on the Middle East Peace Plan
January 29, 2020. The “peace plan” presented yesterday in Washington D.C. aims to make permanent a reality of fragmentation, isolation and division in the occupied Palestinian territory. Further entrenching the dispossession of Palestinians and perpetuating the occupation is a recipe for ongoing conflict, not peace.
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Severe damage to crops in Gaza following aerial herbicide spraying by Israel
January 28, 2020. Aerial spraying conducted between January 14 and 16 has damaged crops as far as one kilometer away from Gaza’s perimeter fence, causing serious financial losses for farmers in the Strip.
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Israel resumes aerial herbicide spraying along Gaza’s perimeter fence; Gisha, Adalah and Al Mezan demand an immediate halt to the destructive measure
On January 16, human rights organizations Gisha, Adalah and Al Mezan sent a letter with an urgent demand to refrain from conducting further aerial spraying of herbicides inside and near the Gaza Strip, due to the severe damage to crops and the health risks to Gaza residents.
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Gaza Strip Map
January 9, 2020. A new and updated map published by Gisha emphasizes the spatial dimensions of Israel’s ongoing control over Gaza, and the means by which Israel denies movement of people and goods. The map includes data and background on the crossing points with Israel and Egypt, the “fishing zone” enforced by Israel in Gaza’s territorial waters, and the “buffer zone” it imposes along the barrier separating Gaza from Israel.
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Gisha reaffirms that the rights of Palestinians in Gaza must not be used as bargaining chips in political barter
January 1, 2020. Israel’s security cabinet convened today to discuss what has been portrayed in various media outlets as “civilian easings,” that is, measures to be implemented by Israel as part of a “settlement” or long-term ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Improving the living conditions of Gaza’s two million residents, half of whom are children, is an urgent imperative but “easings” and “gestures” are nowhere near enough.
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2019
Israel reverses latest punitive reduction of Gaza’s fishing zone, but the frequent, arbitrary changes continue to harm Gaza’s fishermen
December 30, 2019. On December 24, Israel restored the fishing zone to its previous demarcation, up to a maximal distance of 15 nautical miles off shore in a southern section of the Strip.
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COGAT’s Christmas Flip-flop
December 23, 2019. Just three days ahead of Christmas, after weeks of uncertainty and contradictory responses, COGAT announced Israel will issue permits for Gaza Christians to travel to the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
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