• Conflict.'Pax americana 'for the Middle East

The Gaza Strip has known three wars with Israel in 11 years, the last one, in 2014, claimed the death of more than 2,000 Palestinians and 70 Israelis. Periodically, the risk of the outbreak of a new conflict continues to threaten the area with each escalation of tension . One of the most alarming was in May, when Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched more than 650 projectiles into Israel that caused four deaths. Israel responded with attacks that killed 20 Palestinians. Shortly after, Hamas - the faction in power in Gaza - approved a ceasefire agreement with Israel negotiated with the UN, Egypt and Qatar to which Islamic Jihad did not adhere. We analyze the demographic, social, economic and political context in the territory.

What is the socioeconomic situation in the Gaza Strip?

Gaza is one of the most densely populated territories in the world. There live 1.9 million inhabitants in 365 square kilometers , which gives an average of 5,479 people per square kilometer. The Palestinian enclave has been subject to a land, air and sea blockade by Israel and Egypt since 2007, which limits the entry into the territory of goods and products, including medicines and medical machinery. Fuel, drinking water and electricity are scarce. The UN describes the embargo as "collective punishment", in clear violation of International Law.

Gazatis are subject to movement restrictions, which means they are not allowed to travel to Israel or the West Bank to work either. According to the Central Statistical Office of Palestine, the unemployment rate in Gaza amounted to 52% in 2018 , a number that is estimated to be higher in this 2019 (as a reference, unemployment is around 20% in the West Bank and does not reach 10% in Israel ). Since the blockade was imposed on the Strip, unemployment has grown by 20%, according to the same source. Young people between 15 and 29, with 69% and women, with 75% get the worst. The other side of this data is that those who have work do not earn enough to subsist: the average monthly salary in Gaza is around 8.6 euros. The poverty rate is 39%, more than double that in the West Bank, and the vast majority of the population - 80% - depend in some way on international aid, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) . More than one million Gazatis are under food insecurity. Of the almost two million inhabitants of the territory, 1.4 million are refugees.

Who rules in Gaza?

The Islamist group Hamas took control of the Strip by arms in 2007 and expelled the rival faction, Al Fatah, after winning legislative elections months before. The coup marked the dismantling of Gaza from the Palestinian National Authority, which was circumscribed to the West Bank, and the division of the Palestinians . Given the rise to power of Hamas, Israel - which considers it a terrorist group, like the US and the EU - imposed a blockade on the Strip to isolate the enclave. With the mediation of Egypt and Qatar, a reconciliation was attempted between the Palestinian groups and, at the end of 2017, Hamas and Al Fatah signed a pact that has never materialized. The confrontation has de facto created two different Palestinian entities, with their governments and their respective security apparatus, which is another obstacle to any political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

What armed groups have a presence in Gaza?

Mainly two: Hamas and Islamic Jihad . Hamas is the most powerful organization, the one that holds power in the Strip and imposes its law through its armed arm, the Izedin al Qasam Brigades. Hamas rules Gaza with an iron hand, according to allegations by human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, which in 2018 documented arbitrary detentions and torture of dissidents and critics, journalists and members of rival factions.

Islamic Jihad, emerged in the 80s as Hamas, shares objectives and ideology and is the second armed group of the Strip. He is also considered a terrorist by the US, the EU and Israel. Its main funder and supplier of military weapons and training is Iran, the same source of Hamas, while Syria has historically provided a sanctuary in its territory for its leaders, who still reside in Damascus (on the contrary, Hamas withdrew its support for Bashar Asad) Gaza is the main bastion of Islamic Jihad, but it also maintains some infrastructure in the West Bank (mainly in Yenin and Hebron).

What supports do Hamas and Jihad have among the local population?

Since the so-called Arab Springs exploded, no leader in the region has been exempt from citizen movements demanding democracy and social justice. This is also the case in Gaza, where the population has organized protests against leaders who prefer to spend money on weapons rather than using it to improve the lives of their impoverished citizens. The increase in taxes on tobacco and other products ordered by Hamas this year caused a rise in prices and an outbreak of popular anger , which reached a high point last March, with demonstrations that were violently repressed. Hamas supported the protests on the border against Israel's blockade in 2018, but nevertheless it silences the voices of internal dissent, suppressing civic marches with real fire and practicing hundreds of arbitrary detentions, according to Amnesty International. This October, anticipating a revival of popular mobilizations for contagion of Lebanon, Hamas police arrested dozens of activists and militants of leftist factions .

Can another war break out in Gaza?

On November 4, Hamas leaders redoubled their belligerence towards Israel, frustrated by the Israeli political blockade that keeps the negotiations stalled, and warned that they were prepared for war. "Their threat could mean a fatal blow to the Strip and the total collapse of Hamas," writes Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar on the specialized website 'Al Monitor'. Eldar explains that the Islamist leadership needs an agreement with Israel to lift the blockade, or at least mitigate it, as the only way to alleviate the terrible situation in which the Gazati population lives and that is stirring up discontent. The popular fury is pointing towards its leaders, to those who blame the miserable living conditions they support and to exercise a repressive and corrupt regime .

Meanwhile, on the Israeli side, attempts to form a government coalition are bogged down, following the failure of Benjamin Netanyahu . A conflict in Gaza would undermine the options of its rival, Benny Gantz, which would revert to a acting prime minister cornered by his judicial process for three cases of corruption and whose outcome will be known at the end of the year.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Hamas
  • Israel
  • Un
  • Egypt
  • Syria
  • Lebanon
  • Iran
  • Benjamin Netanyahu
  • international

Middle East Large-scale confrontation between Israel and Gaza after killing the Israeli army to the leader of the Islamic Jihad armed arm

The Portrait Yossi Cohen, a 'James Bond' to govern Israel

Turkish offensive in Syria Gabriel Moushe, Syrian opponent: "Kurds are the losers of this crisis"