As noted in our response to Claim 6,  while Israel has maintained a naval blockade on the Gaza Strip and restrictions on land crossings due to Hamas’s control of the Strip and its ongoing terrorism against Israel, there has always been significant traffic in goods and services between Israel and Gaza. Simply put, the Gaza blockade does not prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. The blockade itself is an entirely legal act of war, even according the UN’s own Palmer Report, which investigated this question in depth in 2011.  If there is one aspect of Israel’s blockade that is different from all other blockades, including recent actions by Western militaries, it is the insistence of the Israelis in letting through food, medicine, and other humanitarian supplies.

In the first half of 2021, each week, roughly 2,000 trucks entered Gaza to deliver approximately 60,000 tons of goods and equipment and more than three million liters of fuel and diesel.[1] Even during the May 2021 Israel/Hamas conflict, Israel opened the crossings to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid, but Hamas mortar attacks on the crossings halted the shipments.[2] Israel has also enabled millions of dollars in Qatari cash to be transferred to Hamas in Gaza for various public projects and direct aid to Gazans.[3] Notably, Hamas diverted some of this aid for its terrorist infrastructure.[4]

In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, Israel has consistently coordinated transfer of aid to Gaza. In March 2020, then-UN Coordinator for Middle East Peace Nickolay Mladenov praised the “excellent coordination and cooperation” between the Israelis and Palestinians in responding to the pandemic.[5] A UN press release noted that Israel had “facilitated the entry of critical supplies and equipment to Gaza since the beginning of the crisis.”[6] In addition to the medical supplies, Israel also coordinated joint medical workshops, as detailed in our response to Claim 20.[7] In December 2020, Israel sent a delegation of doctors to the Gaza Strip to provide free medical services to sick Gazans unable to travel to Israel for treatment. The delegation also brought equipment and drugs to help combat the pandemic.[8] In February 2021, Israel also transferred coronavirus vaccines to Gaza.[9]

Furthermore, prior to the May 2021 conflict, Israel facilitated numerous reconstruction and infrastructure projects in Gaza. For example, Israel is a party to the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (“GRM”), an agreement between the United Nations, the PA and Israel to allow for the transfer of construction materials to Gaza following the summer 2014 Israel/Gaza conflict.[10] According to the GRM website, in the last year alone, approximately 450,000 tons of cement and 60,000 tons of rebar were used every month for Gaza reconstruction projects.[11] Over 1,450 large scale projects have been registered with the GRM[12] and more than 36,500 beneficiaries have participated in the residential stream of the GRM—13,130 for reconstruction of homes demolished in the 2014 conflict and 23,403 for construction of new homes unrelated to the conflict.[13]

Mechanisms like the GRM are necessary to prevent exploitation of humanitarian aid by Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza. As noted above, Hamas, in particular, has been known to divert construction materials for military purposes, including to build terror tunnels.[14]

Israel has also facilitated infrastructure projects to improve living conditions in Gaza, specifically in the water and energy sectors.

Water: In July 2017, Israel signed a water sharing agreement with the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, which included provisions to increase the water supply in Gaza.[15] Israel also coordinates the entry of material for the Gaza Central Desalination Plant and Associated Works, a major internationally funded project which should effectively solve Gaza’s water problem.[16]

Energy: Prior to the May 2021 Israel/Hamas conflict, Israel was in talks with the Palestinian Authority, Qatar and the European Union to reach an agreement on building a natural gas pipeline through Israel to Gaza—known as G4G (Gas for Gaza)[17]—to enable Gaza to switch from using more expensive diesel fuel to natural gas. This would cut costs, cut pollution, increase Gaza’s energy supply and help power the desalination plant. In February 2021, then-Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said, “any agreement made to provide natural gas from Israel to the Gaza power plant is being done with our full coordination.”[18]