Israel blocks workers from Gaza amid border tensions

Following days of border protests during which Israeli police opened fire and killed a protester the day before, Israel blocked crossing points with Gaza on Wednesday, preventing thousands of employees from travelling to their places of employment in Israel and the West Bank.

According to local experts, the action prevents more than 18,000 Palestinians from crossing for employment, costing the struggling economy of the blockaded enclave over $2 million daily.

Days-long protests have been conducted against anything from Jewish trips to the Al Aqsa mosque compound, a place sacred to both Muslims and Jews who refer to it as the Temple Mount, and supported by Hamas, the Islamist organisation that rules Gaza.

According to Gaza health officials, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man on Tuesday during the protests, and 11 other people were also hurt.

The Erez gate into Gaza was shut down, according to a representative for Cogat, the Israeli Defence Ministry organisation that coordinates with the Palestinians. The spokesperson added that it would reopen “in accordance with situational assessments.”

The border restriction will put more pressure on an economy already under stress owing to a blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt. It comes after a brief suspension on exports from Gaza earlier this month after inspectors discovered explosives in a package of commodities.

“We are too afraid the crossing won’t open anytime soon and I go back to living in poverty and need,” said one Gaza father of five, who has been sleeping at the Palestinian side of Erez crossing since Sunday evening.

The 18,000 labour permits issued by Israel bring in substantial sums of money to a region where, according to IMF data, per capita income is barely half that of the West Bank and where, according to the World Bank, unemployment is approaching 50%.

According to Ayman Abu Krayyem, the spokesman for the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Labour, 8,000 workers who had returned to Gaza for Israeli Jewish holidays have been stuck there since the ban was implemented by Israel.

“Those are losing 3.2 million shekel ($842,000) a day. These are important money by which they could help their families and improve their economic conditions…. This is a collective punishment,” said Krayyem.

The military claimed that over the past three weeks, its forces had used riot dispersal techniques against Palestinians who threw bombs towards the border fence separating Israel and the Gaza Strip.

According to a Palestinian official aware with such attempts, Egypt and Qatar, two crucial mediators in earlier rounds of violence, were in communication with the two parties in an effort to prevent escalating into another round of military conflict.

(With agency inputs)