Gisha news release – three years of Gaza closure

News Release – For immediate release – Monday, June 14, 2010

Three Years of Gaza Closure – By the Numbers

June 2007-June 2010: The Gaza Strip border crossings are closed; Restrictions on the passage of goods and people

• The closure of the Gaza Strip applies to a coastal strip 360 km² in area (139 mi²).

Paralyzed economy

Israel allows in only items defined as basic products “essential to the survival of the civilian population”.

• The number of types of items Israel allows into the Gaza Strip: 114. Before the closure: more than 4000 individual items.

• Among the items whose passage Israel forbids: vinegar, children’s toys, cocoa, chewing gum, paper and musical instruments.
• Truckloads of goods entering Gaza: an average of around 2,300 per month. Before the closure: 10,400 per month (truckloads now entering Gaza thus equals about 25% of pre-closure total).

• Israel prevents the transfer of raw materials for industry as part of its “economic warfare” policy designed to prevent economic activity in Gaza as a means of pressure: it forbids the transfer to Gaza of large blocks of margarine intended for industrial usage yet allows in small packages of margarine for household consumption; it bans the transfer of rubber, glue and nylon which are used in the production of diapers in the Strip, yet allows the transfer of diapers produced in Israel; and it prevents the transfer of industrial salt, glucose and plastic containers used to produce tahini paste but allows in Israeli-made tahini paste. According to estimates by the Palestinian Federation of Industries, more than 90% of Gaza’s factories belonging to the Federation are closed or working at minimum capacity.
• Export: since the closure (June 2007-today): 259 trucks have left Gaza; before the closure: an average of 70 trucks per day left Gaza (2005). In three years, Israel has permitted exports totaling less than what used to be exported in four days.

• Cooking gas: an average of 2,500 tons per month transferred to Gaza. The demand: 6,000 tons per month.
• Unemployment: 33.9% in the first quarter of 2010.
• Actual participation in the workforce: 36.3% (304,900 people). 65% of the population live below the poverty line.
• Supported by international aid organizations: 80% of the population.

People obstructed

Israel allows the passage of people into and out of Gaza only “in humanitarian and exceptional cases”.

• The Rafah Crossing: closed since June 2007 except for occasional and limited openings that meet 8% of the needs of the residents of the Gaza Strip. In 2010 thus far, an average of 3,192 people passed through the crossing monthly. Before the closure: an average of about 40,000 people traveled through the crossing.

• Not humanitarian according to Israel: A visit by a woman living in the West Bank to her husband in the Gaza Strip; children visiting their father in the Gaza Strip; a son from Gaza visiting his dying mother in Jordan (“family ties in themselves do not constitute sufficient humanitarian justification for travel”); students going to study in the West Bank and abroad; travel by merchants for the purposes of trade; travel for training and more.

Decaying infrastructure

• Untreated or partially treated sewage dumped into the sea: 80 million liters per day.
• More than 90% of water is polluted (its origin is the Gaza Strip aquifer).

Education

• 660 schools; 453,258 students; an average of 38 students per classroom; two shifts of school per day.
• In 2009, 38,317 students graduated and were supposed to be absorbed by the labor market.

Construction and Rehabilitation

• 86,000 housing units need to be constructed to meet the needs of the population (due both to natural growth and the destruction caused by the war).
• 3,956,000 tons of cement are needed.
• 653,600 tons of steel are needed.
• 129 million meters of electric cables are needed.
• Building materials whose transfer Israel prevents: cement, gravel, iron, marble, wood.