 A Qassam rocket fired from a civilian area in Gaza towards civilian areas in Southern Israel.
(larger image)After a round of tit-for-tat arrests between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the Hilles clan from Gaza were relocated to Jericho on 4 August 2008.
Retiring Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on 11 November 2008, "The question is not whether there will be a confrontation, but when it will take place, under what circumstances, and who will control these circumstances, who will dictate them, and who will know to exploit the time from the beginning of the ceasefire until the moment of confrontation in the best possible way.”
On 14 November 2008, Gaza was blockaded by Israel in response to the rocket and mortar attacks by Hamas and other militant groups operating inside Gaza, however food, power and water can still enter from Egypt if the Egyptian authorities allow it.
After a 24-hour period in which not a single Qassam rocket or mortar was fired into Israel, on 24 November 2008 the IDF facilitated the transfer of over 30 truckloads of food, basic supplies and medicine into the Gaza Strip, and it also transferred fuel to the main power plant of the area. On 25 November 2008 Israel closed its cargo crossing with Gaza due to two rockets being shot at Israel.
Blockade
The Gaza Strip has been blockaded by Israel and Egypt since June 2007, when Islamist militant group Hamas violently took control of the Palestinian territory in the course of a bloody conflict with rival Palestinian group Fatah.
The Gaza Strip has land borders with Israel and Egypt, and a sea border. Egypt and Israel largely keep their borders with the territory sealed, though Israel carries out regular deliveries of humanitarian aid into the territory and allows passage of people in both directions over the border for humanitarian reasons. The Israeli navy maintains a sea blockade from three nautical miles offshore. Egypt is constructing an underground steel barrier to prevent circumvention of the blockade through smuggling tunnels.
Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the European Union, the United States and other countries, due to its dedication to the destruction of Israel. Israel maintains that the blockade is necessary to limit Palestinian rocket attacks on its cities and to prevent Hamas from obtaining other weapons which could be used to wage war on the Jewish state. The blockade is supported by the United States and other nations. According to Reuters, a political deal to ease the blockade is blocked by the intra-Palestinian
The blockade has been criticized by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the controversial United Nations Human Rights Council and US President Barack Obama.
Weekly Summary of Humanitarian Aid Transferred into the Gaza Strip
Geography
The Gaza Strip which is located in the Middle East (at 31°25′N 34°20′E). It has a 51km border with Israel, and an 11km border with Egypt, near the city of Rafah. Khan Yunis is located 7km northeast of Rafah, and several towns are located along the coast between it and Gaza City. Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun are located to the north and northeast of Gaza City, respectively.
The Gush Katif bloc of Israeli localities used to exist on the sand dunes adjacent to Rafah and Khan Yunis, along the southwestern edge of the 40 km Mediterranean coastline. A few months after the disengagement in December 2005, a controversial buffer zone was created on the northern border with Israel. Part of it reaches 2.5 km into the Palestinian Authority controlled territory, on roughly the area of the former northern Israeli localities, an area now used to launch Qassam rockets into Israel.
The Gaza Strip has a temperate climate, with mild winters, and dry, hot summers subject to drought. The terrain is flat or rolling, with dunes near the coast. The highest point is Abu 'Awdah (Joz Abu 'Auda), at 105 metres above sea level. Natural resources include arable land (about a third of the strip is irrigated), and recently discovered natural gas. Environmental issues include desertification; salination of fresh water; sewage treatment; water-borne disease; soil degradation; and depletion and contamination of underground water resources. It is considered to be one of the fifteen territories that comprise the so-called "Cradle of Humanity."
It currently holds the oldest known remains of a manmade bonfire and some of the world's oldest dated human skeletons.
Economy
Economic output in the Gaza Strip declined by about one-third between 1992 and 1996. This downturn has been variously attributed to corruption and mismanagement by Yassir Arafat and to Israeli closure policies—the imposition of generalized border closures which disrupted previously established labor and commodity market relationships between Israel and the Strip. The most serious negative social effect of this downturn was the emergence of high unemployment.
Israel's use of comprehensive closures decreased during the next few years and, in 1998, Israel implemented new policies to reduce the impact of closures and other security procedures on the movement of Palestinian goods and labor into Israel. These changes fueled an almost three-year-long economic recovery in the Gaza Strip. Recovery ended with the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada in the last quarter of 2000. The al-Aqsa Intifada triggered tight IDF closures of the border with Israel as well as frequent curbs on traffic in Palestinian self-rule areas, severely disrupting trade and labor movements. In 2001, and even more severely in early 2002, internal turmoil and Israeli military measures in Palestinian Authority areas resulted in the destruction of capital plant and administrative structure, widespread business closures, and a sharp drop in GDP. Another major factor has been the decline of income earned due to reduction in the number of Gazans permitted entry to work in Israel. After the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Palestine again resumed the flow of a limited number of workers into Israel but has stated its intention to reduce or end such permits due to the victory of Hamas in the 2006 parliamentary elections.
During the time of Israeli settler presence in the Gaza Strip, settlers built greenhouses and experimented with new forms of agriculture. These greenhouses also provided employment for many hundred Gazan Palestinians. When Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in the Summer of 2005, these greenhouses were bought by the World Bank and given to the Palestinian people to jump-start their economy. Most of these greenhouses are now utilized by Palestinian farmers, although there have been incidents of looting and vandalism in a few locations.
According to the CIA World Factbook, GDP in 2001 declined 35% to a per capita income of $625 a year, and 60% of the population is now below the poverty line. Gaza Strip industries are generally small family businesses that produce textiles, soap, olive-wood carvings, and mother-of-pearl souvenirs; the Israelis have established some small-scale modern industries in an industrial center. Electricity is supplied by Israel. The main agricultural products are olives, citrus, vegetables, Halal beef, and dairy products. Primary exports are citrus and cut flowers, while primary imports are food, consumer goods, and construction materials. The main trade partners of the Gaza Strip are Israel, Egypt, and the West Bank.
Health
A study carried out by Johns Hopkins University (USA) and Al-Quds University (in Jerusalem)  for CARE International in late 2002 revealed very high levels of dietary deficiency among the Palestinian population. The study found that 17.5% of children aged 6–59 months suffered from chronic malnutrition. 53% of women of reproductive age and 44% of children were found to be anemic. In the aftermath of the Israeli withdrawal of August and September 2005, the healthcare system in Gaza continues to face severe challenges.
Transport and communication
The Gaza strip has a small, poorly developed road network. It also had a single standard gauge railway line running the entire length of the strip from north to south along its center; however, it is abandoned and in disrepair, and little trackage remains. The line once connected to the Egyptian railway system to the south as well as the Israeli system to the north.
The strip's one port was never completed after the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Its airport, the Gaza International Airport, opened on 24 November 1998 as part of agreements stipulated in the Oslo II Accord and the 23 October 1998 Wye River Memorandum. The airport was closed in October 2000 by Israeli orders, and its runway was destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces in December 2001. It has since been renamed Yasser Arafat International Airport.
The Gaza strip has rudimentary landline telephone service provided by an open-wire system as well as extensive mobile telephone services provided by PalTel (Jawwal) or Israeli providers such as Cellcom. Gaza is serviced by four internet service providers that now compete for ADSL and dial-up customers. Most Gaza households have a radio and a TV (70%+), and roughly 20% have a personal computer. People living in Gaza enjoy access to satellite television (Al Jazeera, Lebanese and Egyptian entertainment programs, etc.), local private channels, and broadcast TV from the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation, the Israel Broadcasting Authority and the Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority.
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