The Gaza Blockade
For over 17 years, the people of Gaza have lived under an Israeli-imposed blockade that severely limits travel, trade, and everyday life for its 2 million residents.
Fact sheets
We've compiled a variety of fact sheets on various topics about life in Gaza before October 7, 2023 here.
Education Under the Blockade
The blockade has had a devastating impact on students of all ages in Gaza. Each year, thousands of college-age students are effectively barred from finishing their education because they are denied permission to leave Gaza to study in the West Bank or elsewhere.
Gaza’s economic crisis
No portion of Gaza’s economy has been left untouched by the blockade.
Restriction of movement
Israel has controlled the movement of people and goods into and out of Gaza for decades, but since the imposition of the blockade in 2006, restrictions have been severely tightened.
The Israeli-controlled Erez Crossing, located on the northern edge of the Israeli-built wall around Gaza, is the only crossing through which civilians can travel between Gaza and Israel. At the start of the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, in 2000, around 26,000 people were allowed to leave Gaza each day via the Erez crossing.
The Gaza Housing and Building Crisis
Faced with rapid population growth and approximately 50% of its population under 18 years of age, Gaza is in constant need of new housing. But since imposing the blockade in 2006, Israel has blocked the importation of materials needed to construct homes, creating a housing and building crisis.
Health care jeopardized in Gaza
The fuel and electricity crisis in Gaza impacts every individual and service provider in Gaza, but none more vital than the health sector.
Why Gaza can't count on electricity
In June 2006, following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas, the Israeli military bombed Gaza’s only power plant, destroying its six transformers. It took five months for the plant to resume partial production, and today the power plant still can’t function at full capacity.
Lacking water and sanitation in Gaza
Access to clean and safe water is a basic human right, but it is a right denied to Palestinians in Gaza under Israel’s occupation and blockade. Gaza has long faced a water crisis.
Overexploitation of the Coastal Aquifer on which Gaza relies—combined with contamination from chemicals, wastewater, and other pollutants—has created a situation in which 96 percent of Gaza’s water supply isn’t it for human consumption...