BACKGROUND: The Israeli blockade of Gaza

May 31, 2010, 13:12 GMT

Tel Aviv - Israel imposed its blockade of Gaza in response to rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian militants at its southern communities, and also as a means of pressuring Hamas into freeing an soldier held captive in the strip as a bargaining chip since 2006.

Human rights organisations, however, condemn the blockade as collective punishment - illegal under international law - of the coastal enclave's 1.5 million Palestinians.

Despite earlier on-and-off restrictive measures ever since the rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza began in 2001, the blockade was first formally imposed when Israeli Staff-Sergeant Gilad Shalit was captured in a June 2006 raid on an Israeli military base bordering Gaza.

That raid was led by the radical Islamist movement Hamas. That group's seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, leading Israel to further tighten the blockade and declare Gaza a 'hostile' entity.

Since then, Israel has only allowed in the most basic items necessary to avoid a humanitarian crisis. Anything that does not appear on its list of basic commodities does not enter the strip via its formal border crossings.

However, there is a vast smuggling network of tunnels dug under the border with Egypt. Those have been formalised and are being taxed by the Hamas authorities.

Israel denies a humanitarian crisis exists in Gaza, noting it coordinates the entry of hundreds of trucks with goods ranging from rice, wheat, milk powder, fruits and vegetables, and medical supplies through its border crossings with Gaza six days a week.

It says 94,500 tons of supplies entered the strip in the first quarter of 2010 in 3,676 truck loads. Israel says it also coordinated the transfer by UNWRA, the UN agency that cares for Palestinian refugees, of non-food items such as school supplies, laptops and items for its summer camps, including inflatable toys, musical instruments, and sports equipment.

It says that in 2009, 10,544 patients and their escorts left Gaza for medical treatment in Israel - and insists it only refuses cases of patients who have known links to militant groups.

However, human rights group charge its refusals appear often arbitrary and that also seemingly innocent and arbitrary commodities such as lentils do not appear on the Israeli list of essential items.

In addition, much-needed construction materials are not on the list. Rights groups say these are essential to rebuild Gaza following Israel's devastating and deadly three-week offensive in the winter of 2008-2009, launched in response to the rocket and mortar attacks.

Although Israel points out there is no food shortage in Gaza, rights group nonetheless still note the blockade has caused inhumane hardship among the strip's civilian population, mass dependency on food parcels from international organisations, and a counterproductive contraband economy that strengthens Hamas.