Israel announces ‘total siege’ of Gaza: How will people be affected?

Israel has responded to the escalating conflict with Palestine by announcing a ‘total blockade’ of Hamas-controlled Gaza. The move, announced by Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, came in the backdrop of the Israeli military saying it had largely gained control back in its southern towns where it had been battling Hamas gunmen. Gaza is ruled by Hamas – the Arabic acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement – now at war with Israel for the fifth time in 15 years. But what is the total blockade? How will people be affected? Let’s take a closer look: What is it? First, let’s take a brief look at Gaza and the history of the blockade. One of the most densely populated places on the planet, Gaza is home to over two million people living on a 362-square-kilometre strip of land.

It is bordered by Israel in the east and north, Egypt in the south, with the Mediterranean Sea to the west.

After the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli war that surrounded the creation of Israel, Gaza was placed under Egyptian administration. Israel occupied Gaza during the 1967 Six-Day War and it was only fully returned to Palestinians in 2005, when Israel withdrew its last soldiers and thousands of settlers. In 2006, Israel imposed an air, land and sea blockade on Gaza following the capture by Hamas of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was held prisoner for five years. In 2007, Israel tightened the blockade after Hamas – which Israel, the United States and others classify as a terrorist group – took control of Gaza from the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. The only entrance to Gaza not controlled by Israel is Rafah on the Egyptian border. [caption id=“attachment_13225082” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Palestinians walk away from the kibbutz of Kfar Azza, Israel, near the fence with the Gaza strip. AP[/caption] Israel and Egypt have since imposed a blockade on the strip. Hamas, meanwhile, has ruled Gaza unchallenged through the blockade and four previous wars with Israel. However, Israel has in recent years, while placing heavy restrictions on travel in and out of the Gaza Strip, provided limited electricity and allowed the import of food, fuel and some consumer goods. However, as per The New York Times, any elections items that could be refashioned into arms and armaments remain barred.

As per Al Jazeera, the ‘total ban’ would include food, water and fuel.

Gallant ordered a “complete siege” on Gaza, saying authorities would cut electricity and block the entry of food and fuel. “We are putting a complete siege on Gaza … No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed,” Gallant was quoted as saying by the outlet. Gallant said Israel was at war with “human animals,” using the kind of dehumanising language often employed by both sides at times of soaring tensions. How will people be affected? The Gaza Strip has virtually no industry and suffers from a chronic lack of water, fuel and electricity. Around half of the population is unemployed, according to the World Bank, and more than two-thirds are reliant on development aid. Gaza has just one power plant, as per The New York Times.

As per BBC, most areas of Gaza are already without power.

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The strip can only meet around 20 per cent of its own demand for electricity. Most shops in Gaza, sans a few bakeries with customers waiting in line, are shuttered. As per The New York Times, Gaza’s hospitals are already facing a shortage of equipment and medicine. Now the hospitals are overwhelmed by the sheer number of people flooding in and are begging for people to come forward to donate blood, as per BBC. Mahmoud Shalabi, Gaza director of the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, called the main hospital a “slaughterhouse". “There were many dead bodies in the morgue and many medical staff were unable to cope with the huge influx of casualties they were receiving,” Shalabi told BBC. As per The New York Times, civilians in Gaza are already under threat. [caption id=“attachment_13225072” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Palestinians transport a captured Israeli civilian (centre) from Kfar Azza kibbutz into the Gaza Strip on Saturday. AP[/caption] In May, a dozen civilians were killed in Israeli airstrikes. In 2021, 67 children died in 11 days of fighting The Israeli seal will leave Gaza almost entirely dependent on its crossing into neighbouring Egypt at Rafah, where cargo capacities are lower than other crossings into Israel. An Egyptian military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, earlier said more than two tons of medical supplies from the Egyptian Red Crescent were sent to Gaza and efforts were underway to organize food, and other deliveries. He claimed the question of allowing in fuel was not yet decided.

The UN said more than 123,000 people have fled their homes in Gaza – many after Israeli warnings of imminent bombardment.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said a school sheltering more than 225 people took a direct hit. It did not say where the fire came from. This is the fifth war between Palestinian militants in Gaza and Israel following Israel’s withdrawal from the territory in 2005. The four previous wars in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021 were marked by devastating Israeli air strikes on the enclave and barrages of rockets raining down on Israel from the other direction. The deadliest by far was the seven-week conflict in July-August 2014, which killed 2,251 Palestinians and 74 Israelis, including 68 soldiers. Israel had flattened parts of Gaza with the stated goal of stopping Palestinian rocket fire and destroying infiltration tunnels. Meanwhile, after about 48 hours of pitched battles, Hagari said the military has “control” of its border communities in southern Israel. Despite some isolated incidents early Monday, “at this stage, there is no fighting in the communities.” He said 15 of 24 border communities have been evacuated, with the rest expected to be emptied in the coming day. Earlier, Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua told The Associated Press over the phone that the group’s fighters continued to battle outside Gaza and had captured more Israelis as recently as Monday morning. [caption id=“attachment_13225042” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October. AP[/caption] He said the group aims to free all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, which in the past has agreed to lopsided exchange deals in which it released large numbers of prisoners for individual captives or even the remains of soldiers. Among the captives are soldiers and civilians, including women, children and older adults, mostly Israelis but also some people of other nationalities. Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram newspaper said Monday that Egyptian officials are trying to mediate a release of Palestinian women in Israel’s prisons in exchange for Israeli women captured by militants. After breaking through Israeli barriers with explosives at daybreak Saturday, an estimated 1,000 Hamas gunmen rampaged for hours, gunning down civilians and snatching people in towns, along highways and at a techno music festival attended by thousands in the desert. Palestinian militants have also launched around 4,400 rockets at Israel, according to the military. Hamas said it launched the attack in response to mounting Palestinian suffering under Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, its blockade of Gaza, its discriminatory policies in annexed east Jerusalem and tensions around a disputed Jerusalem holy site sacred to Muslims and Jews. The Palestinians want a state of their own in all three territories, captured by Israel in the 1967 war, but the last serious peace talks broke down well over a decade ago, and Israel’s far-right government is opposed to Palestinian statehood. On Sunday, the US dispatched an aircraft carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel, and said it would send additional military aid. With inputs from agencies