The IOF have intensified their imposed siege on the Gaza Strip.
They have closed Karni Crossing since 21st February, with no apparent concern for the suffering inflicted of the Palestinians in the Gaza Srip.
The crossing constitutes the sole economic access for people in the Gaza Strip to import foods and fruits and export agricultural products and crops like flowers, strawberry, tomatoes, chilli peppers, and cucumber.
Palestinian markets in the Gaza Strip are running out of milk, cheese, sugar, and rice.
Palestinian farmers faced a great loss after their products were damaged and thus were not exported; this has negatively affected the farmers’ source of living and limited their ability to resume work due to loss and damage of crops.
The closure of Karni crossing has also negatively affected aid from UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency).
The agency provides food supply to refugees, and families dependent on UNRWA assistance are directly affected.
Furthermore, the closure of Karni has also negative impact on the Palestinian health sector, which suffers from a lack of medical equipment, and thus the lives of many patients are being threatened.
According to Al Mezan’s field investigations, the IOF have been tightening the siege on the Gaza Strip since the beginning of 2006.
On January 15th, they closed Karni crossing for 18 consecutive days.
The closure has augmented the suffering of Palestinians inside the Gaza strip as Palestinian markets are running out of basic needs, and prices of available goods are increased considerably.
Karni is the main crossing for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and is the only crossing which resumed work after the IOF imposed tight siege on the Gaza Strip on October 9th 2000.
Since then, The IOF have permitted extremely low levels of economic activity, while the economic sections of Rafah and Erez crossings were entirely canceled.
The table below highlights the high numbers of closures of Karni crossing since the outbreak of the Intifada on September 28th 2000.
Closure days in Karni since the outbreak of the Intifada
Year          Partial closing          Total closing
2000 (Oct- Nov- Dec)          74          22
2001          289          77
2002          293          71
2003          75          94
2004          10          99
2005          10          98
2006          28          37 Al Mezan Center for Human Rights emphasizes that the continued IOF siege in addition to economic and social restrictions imposed on Palestinians will certainly contribute to higher unemployment and poverty rates in the Gaza Strip and will hinder any future economic revival and directly affect the life and health of Palestinians, especially children.
It also asserts that the Israeli policy of collective punishment constitutes grave breach of international humanitarian law, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative To the Protection of Civilian persons in Time of War.
Al Mezan center calls upon the international community to recognize the Gaza Strip as remaining to be an occupied territory and work on implementing the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War until the occupation ends.
Moreover, the international community must immediately intervene to halt IOF collective punishment against Palestinians and force Israel to abide by the Convention and lift the siege on Gaza, which constitutes a threat to all aspects of Palestinian life.
END