The state of closure in Gaza: An eyewitness account
February 19th
On February 14, the Palestinian Monitor team went to investigate the latest state of closure in the Gaza Strip. Due to shelling that morning and following what appears to be the intentional killing of Israeli soldiers by a Gazan bus driver near Tel Aviv, the team was not able to travel to the Northern part of the Strip. However, the team was able to visit Gaza city and Khan Younis, in the Southern part of the Strip, albeit having to wait more than 15 minutes at Israeli checkpoints guarded by heavily armed tanks between the two areas.
While the internal and external closure imposed on the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Intifada has been reported to a limited extent in the international media, nothing can compare to the effect of witnessing the closure and some of its ramifications upon the Palestinian population first hand. In early January, the Israeli army divided the Strip into four parts, thus precluding the internal movement of people and goods in the --- km-long area. Access to Israel and Egypt has been denied to Palestinians since the outbreak of the popular uprising.
The journey between Gaza city and Khan Younis took at least twice as much time as it would under normal circumstances. The two areas are separated by cement blocks aimed at isolating Israeli settlements, which cover 40% of the Gaza Strip, from Palestinian-inhabited areas. Settlers can freely access their homes while Palestinians have to travel on a parallel road guarded by Israeli tanks. Not all Palestinians can travel from one area of the Strip to the other and many are in fact, turned back by the Israeli army when trying to reach their place of work, land, schools or universities.
On February 15, the Palestine Monitor team witnessed instances of Palestinian being pulled out of their cars by Israeli soldiers at checkpoints. They were left on the side of the road with their hands behind their heads and under the supervision of soldiers well protected in a tank. The team noted that the people in question were not armed. In the meantime, a dozen cars were waiting in line to see whether they would be allowed into Khan Younis. Israeli settlers were driving freely on the other side of the road separated by 4-feet high cement blocks. The team was told by Palestinian witnesses that the 15-minute wait we experienced while trying to enter Khan Younis was very short compared to the lengthy delays they are regularly forced to endure. During the afternoon rush hour, a two-kilometre-long queue of cars has come to be expected. Palestinians often have to wait hours to see whether they will be allowed back into or out of Gaza City to be able to return to their homes.
Israeli army fires highly toxic quantities of tear gas at civilians in Khan Younis, Gaza, 2/15/2001
On February 12, Israeli tanks and helicopters fired gas bombs at houses in the Gharbi Refugee Camp, adjacent to the Tuffah crossing in the Gaza Strip. According to hospital sources, 32 people who were exposed to the gas were treated for serious injuries. Although to date, no evidence supports the possibility that the gas fired was any different that tear gas normally used by the Israeli army, the patients’ symptoms, how the gas was fired and the way it was fired, indicates that it was used in highly concentrated quantities and in an enclosed space.
On February 14, the Palestine Monitor visited the Al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis where the 32 cases were admitted following the gas attack. Numerous of these patients were experiencing convulsions and violent seizures. Other patients were unconscious, and others were experiencing severe breathing difficulties. The doctors responsible for the ward explained that they had not been able to determine the nature of the gas inhaled by the patients and therefore had not found a satisfactory treatment for the symptoms of these particular patients. For now, doctors are administering strong sedative and anti-inflammatory drugs and some patients are on oxygen.
At least another dozen women and children have been admitted to clinics in Khan Younis and are reported to experience the same symptoms.
The Gharbi refugee camp is located near the Tuffah crossing that separates it from the Neve Dekalim settlement (part of the Gush Katif settlement bloc). The Israeli army has shelled the camp constantly since the beginning of the Intifada and the scene is one of absolute desolation, reminiscent of the infamous images of Beirut during the Israeli invasion and civil war. The facades of many buildings are disfigured by deep, wide rocket and bullet holes and sand bags are packed at the rear entrance of the camp, which has been cut off from nearby Palestinian farming areas by Israeli tanks protecting the settlement. The Tuffah crossing has been renamed the Suhada (martyrs) crossing by the area's residents.
One woman described the February 12 gas attack. Shells hit the houses, which shortly after filled with a thick dark smoke that later left a black deposit on her body and everything inside the house. The smoke turned orange (a description confirmed by testimonies at the Al-Nasser hospital) and her livestock immediately died.
More men than women were injured in this gas attack on the camp because many women and children had already been sent to safer places due to the constant Israeli military attacks on this area. The Palestinian Ministry of Health has collected samples of the empty gas shells and is currently investigating this attack.
Destruction of Property For four months, the Gaza Strip has been effectively isolated from the world. Over 1 million Palestinians are caged in an area of not more than 365km2. Forty-percent of this land is off limits to Palestinians due to the 16 Israeli settlements housing 4,500 settlers and numerous military outposts that occupy it.
The situation in Gaza is dreadful, and worsening by degrees. To halt Palestinian movement in the Strip, the Israeli military has cut Gaza into four sections by erecting road blockades and checkpoints throughout the strip. Israeli tanks line the roadsides, ostensively for the protection of the settlements and settlers and the roads they travel upon.
Furthermore, the Israeli army has taken control of Palestinian farmland and orchards that lie alongside roads that are used by settlers, and land that surrounds military bases and settlements. Using “security needs” as a pretext for its control of the land, the Israeli military has also destroyed everything on the land.
The depth of this destruction needs to be seen to be believed. All vegetation including olive and citrus trees, banana plants, mango groves, agricultural sheds, vegetable greenhouses, and palm trees along the roadside from Gaza City to Khan Younis has been decimated. Bulldozer tracks indented in the sand crisscross the land; mounds of sand are dotted around, each covering the remains of uprooted trees and broken branches and the remains of orchards are strewn along the roadside.
The destruction of Palestinian homes and the ramshackle sand bag fortifications along the streets is equally shocking. Uninhabitable shells of apartment blocks are a common sight. Any houses that lie near Israeli settlements and military posts have been under constant bombardment by Israeli tanks and heavy weaponry.
The Israeli destruction of Palestinian agriculture and housing has ruined the livelihoods of the people and has rendered many homeless. This outright destruction and collective punishment continues unabated until this day.