Israel Closes All Gaza Border Crossings, Bans Fishing

Israeli officials say moves are a reaction to rocket fire

Saying it was a response to rocket fire from Islamic Jihad, Israel has announced that they are closing all border crossings into the Gaza Strip until further notice, allowing only “essential” humanitarian goods in.

Those goods are going to be quite essential, as Gaza has limited access to food. One of the few food production industries in Gaza is fishing, where Israel tends to heavily limit fishermen. Today, Israel said they are banning all fishing until further notice.

This comes not long after Hamas tried to make a deal with Israel to end violence, and wanted to see as an incentive an increase in fishing rights. Israel has often used fishing as a way to punish the Palestinians, knowing it is one of their few sources of food.

Border closings are very common in Gaza, and Israel allows very limited forms of humanitarian aid in, allowing rice but not pasta on the grounds that pasta is a “luxury” item, and forbidding most processed foods.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.