Israel's isolation of the Gaza Strip and how it serves annexationist goals in the West Bank. ─ Israel’s goal of formalizing annexation of parts of the West Bank is yet another step in a long process of deliberate fragmentation of Palestinian life in the occupied Palestinian territory, aimed at undermining the political power to organize for self-determination. A new position paper released today by Gisha, Area G: From Separation to Annexation, reviews and analyzes Israel’s “separation policy,” implemented as a means of deliberately isolating Gaza physically, economically, and socially, and of dividing Palestinians through sweeping restrictions on movement.

High unemployment, long blackouts, and severe shortages of clean water; a young, educated population with immense potential, and deliberate policy choices by Israel that deny basic rights and block economic development. Everything you need to know about the closure on Gaza.

Israel exploits the suffering of Gazans in order to recruit collaborators and garner whatever intelligence they may be able to provide. It is well known that people in Gaza who are in need of permits for medical care for themselves or their children are often asked to work for the Israeli authorities as informants. While all of these are expressions of cruelty, brutality and racism, here we are actually discussing another issue, one of unimaginable historic value. For years, Gaza has been robbed of priceless archaeological treasures that will very likely end up in an Israeli museum or in the private collections of the wealthy.

Aisha al-Nader was diagnosed with breast cancer and lymphoma in April 2022. The diagnosis came soon after Aisha – now aged 41 – learned that her efforts to become pregnant via fertility treatment had been unsuccessful. Gaza-based doctors referred Aisha to Istishari Arab Hospital in the West Bank city of Ramallah. But she was unable to keep an appointment set for July last year: Israel would not issue her a travel permit...

The five-day Israeli assault on Gaza killed 33 people. The majority of them were civilians, six of them children. But for Israel, they are simply "collateral damage."

At the moment, thanks to the IDF, the saying “my home is my castle” has become “my home is my grave.” This can be attested to by 8-year-old Ali, 12-year-old Miar, 5-year-old Hajar, 10-year-old Lian and 5-year-old Tamim of blessed memory.

Oppressor and oppressed, are equated as "two sides to a conflict." ─ We have spent sleepless nights under Israeli bombs before, in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2021. On Tuesday May 9, apartheid Israel decided to launch yet another murderous campaign of bombardment against one of the most densely populated areas on earth. And again, the victims were children and women. So far, the number of those killed has risen to 33 and more than 100 wounded. Calls for a ceasefire were made as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to launch "massive strikes" in the hope of killing the largest possible number of Palestinians by targeting residential areas.

The Gaza Strip has been under attack for the fifth consecutive day in the context of a military operation launched by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on 9 May 2023. Innocent civilians have been killed and wounded, and civilian objects, including civilian houses and apartments, have been targeted and destroyed by Israeli airstrikes.

Israel’s army has killed multiple civilians in its ongoing attack on the Gaza Strip, while Israeli authorities have closed vital crossings to the Strip and disrupted the flow of vital humanitarian aid including food, medicines, medical supplies, and fuel, said Euro-Med Monitor in a statement.

As happens in every round of fighting with Gaza, this time as well, the Israeli Foreign Ministry rushed to issue a message sheet to Israeli diplomats. This practice is as old as the state itself, only this time it seems that the sheet was written by Russian artificial intelligence software. There’s no other way to explain the complete disconnect between what was written and the facts on the ground.

The current situation in Gaza and Israel is not what mainstream media reports portray. Here is the factual context, in brief.

"Sociocide,” the professor repeated, with a shake of his head. This was Israel’s slow plan for ethnic cleansing. “They are not only stealing the land. They are trying to destroy our way of life.”

The Israeli right and center left have learned time and again that the best way to paralyze the opposition is to launch an assault on the blockaded strip.

Gaza, last night, became a House of Slaughter. An Israeli targeted assassination destroyed a floor of an apartment building, killing three alleged Islamic Jihad commanders, their wives and children. 5 of the dead were children. 20 others were injured. As it has in the past, Israel knew there were civilians who would be killed, but wanted the militants so badly it was willing to massacre the innocent.

Gaza Strip, 2023: Statistical update on violations against children in times of armed conflict by Israeli and Palestinian duty bearers – in accordance with the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanisms established by UN Security Council Resolution 1612.

It is early morning, sunny but with a cool breeze. Jihad al-Hissi is busy helping fellow fishers to prepare a boat for a day at sea. There should not be anything unusual about the tasks they perform: fishers around the world do them all the time. Yet the tension is almost palpable: Jihad, 56, is worried that his boat will not return to the port. For eight months last year, the boat was held by the Israeli authorities after its crew ventured a short distance beyond the small zone in which Gaza’s fishers are permitted to operate.

Amal Bahar had to wait three months before she could see a doctor in the ear, nose and throat department at Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital. Throughout that time, she had tinnitus. “I have a constant tingling in my ear,” she said. “At times, the pain gets severe and turns into a headache.” The pain, she noted, can be especially acute in the evenings. As al-Shifa is a public institution, Amal was eventually able to see a doctor there free of charge. Yet because the hospital’s resources are limited and much in demand, it took a long time before she could get an appointment.

Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from a worsening energy crisis due to the Israeli regime’s unrelenting siege. As a result, they have sought alternative sources of energy that are funded by donor aid, as well as governmental and private-sector initiatives. While these schemes can provide Palestinians with short-term solutions to alleviate their energy needs, they fail to confront the fundamental obstacles imposed by the Israeli siege, thus depoliticizing the energy crisis and perpetuating the status quo.

At approximately 1:30 pm on Tuesday, 21 March 2023, Israeli authorities at Erez crossing arrested Palestinian patient Ahmed Abu Awwad, a 55-year-old resident of the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City, on his way back to the Gaza Strip. Abu Awwad has bone cancer. On March 15, 2023, he left the Gaza Strip to travel to Jerusalem in critical conditions.

A total lack of rights: “It’s as if we don’t exist.” This is a common refrain among undocumented people living in Gaza, and according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, over 5,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip “lack identity documents and are thus deprived of their civil and political rights” as of 2021.

On Thursday, 9 March 2023, the Permanent Military Court in Gaza issued two death sentences by hanging. The first death sentence was handed down to a 65-year-old man convicted of drug trafficking in violation of Article 28(1) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act No. 7 of 2013, following a trial in absentia. The second death sentence was issued against a 47-year-old man convicted of collaboration with hostile entities, in violation of Article 131 the Palestinian Revolutionary Penal Code of 1979.

A number of leading medical professionals and a US lawyer have written an open letter pointing out that the Israeli occupation authorities continue to block the passage of vital medical supplies to the besieged Gaza Strip. It is, they say, "collective punishment" of the Palestinians in the coastal enclave. The letter was sent originally to a medical journal, which had published similar letters and did not respond to the signatories. This, they say, is a "worrying sign of neglect" of the issue.

De Gazastrook, een 360 vierkante kilometer Palestijns grondgebied, is het tehuis van 2,3 miljoen mensen en onderhevig aan een strikte Israelische en Egyptische blokkade sinds de Islamic Resistance Movement (Islamitische Verzetsbeweging) (Hamas) met geweld controle nam van de verarmde kust-enclave in de zomer van 2007.

On Monday morning, 30 January 2023, the Supreme Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Gaza sentenced a 30-year-old man to death by hanging, following his conviction for possession and trafficking of narcotics, based on the indictment materials and pursuant to Article 415 of the Law of Penal Procedures No. 3 of 2001.

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly condemns the continued violations against Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip. Al Mezan believes that the continued Israeli violations of the International Humanitarian Law and the International Human Rights Law is but a reflection of the international community's failure to carry out its legal and moral obligations to protect children’s rights in the oPt, which in turn has emboldened perpetrators to continue unabated with such actions. Al Mezan reiterates its call on the international community to take urgent and effective action to put an end to Israeli violations of the rules of international law, particularly those relevant to children’s rights, and to ensure justice for child victims of grave violations by holding perpetrators to account

Israel’s almost daily use of drones over Gaza and their loud and irritating sound create a constant state of panic and anxiety among more than two million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. The feelings of anguish generated by Israel’s numerous large-scale military offensives which have involved heinous acts of killing, forceful displacement, and destruction of homes and property, are all being brought back when hearing the drones hovering in the sky.

This factsheet discusses in detail the conditions of private water desalination plants in the Gaza Strip and their impact on human rights, including the rights to health, water and sanitation, and a healthy environment.