Gaza Files :An Open Prison with more than 2 Million Prisoners

Gaza is literally turning into a vast open air prison whose inmates have committed no crime or transgression other than that of being Palestinians who dare assert the right to self-determination on land that has long been coveted by an oppressor whose flagrant disregard for international law and human rights is beyond dispute.

The Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated parts of the world, is in a state of unyielding siege and blockade. Nothing can enter or leave via its Erez border crossing with Israel to the north, or its Rafah border crossing with Egypt to the south, without the consent of the Israeli authorities in agreement with their Egyptian counterparts.

Meanwhile, according to a recent Amnesty International report, “Israel’s military blockade of the Gaza Strip [has] entered its 10th year, continuing the collective punishment of Gaza’s entire population.” It also cites the fact that the Israelis maintain a “buffer zone” inside the Strip and have used “live fire and other weapons against Palestinians who entered or approached it.”

Punctuating this daily lived experience of misery for the Palestinians of Gaza are regular Israeli attacks from land, sea, and air, which are tantamount to war crimes given that due to the lack of space in the Strip they are indiscriminate and regularly result in the massacre of civilians.

This is without taking into account the two full-scale military assaults unleashed by the Israelis on Gaza — Operation Cast Lead in 2008-09, and Operation Protective Edge in 2014 — in which thousands of civilians were killed and maimed, many of them children.

Source:Website