Israel Halts Exports from Gaza

Facts

• Israeli authorities halted exports from the embargoed Gaza Strip into Israel on Monday after the Israeli army claimed it had stopped an attempt to smuggle explosives, adding that exports would resume following an investigation.¹
• Officers from Israel's defense ministry, which controls crossings between Israel and Gaza, reportedly found several kilograms of high-quality explosives hidden within a clothing delivery carried by three trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing.²
• The ministry's statement also claimed that the explosives were intended for attacks in the West Bank, but this wasn't independently verified. Attempts to smuggle weapons from Gaza into the West Bank are rare but not unheard of.³
• This comes as guards reportedly thwarted an effort to export handguns from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank in May. In July, security forces also claimed to have foiled an attempt to smuggle Iranian-made explosives into Israel, allegedly destined for groups in the West Bank.³
• The Kerem Shalom crossing is the only point of entry for goods between Israel and the enclave that has been under embargo since 2007 when the Palestinian political party and armed group Hamas took over the Strip.¹
• The situation in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza has deteriorated in the last year. The UN said last month that more than 200 Palestinians and nearly 30 Israelis have been killed so far this year, which represents the highest death toll in the conflict since 2005.⁴

Sources: ¹The National, ²Arab News, ³The Times of Israel, and ⁴UN News.

Narratives

• Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Al Jazeera. This move will only worsen the deeply cruel blockade of Gaza that Israel enacted over 15 years ago. The blockade has exacted a massive economic toll on Palestinians in the strip, with most being forced to depend on foreign aid. Israel's blockade of Gaza is just one of many brutal policies Israel uses against Palestinians.
• Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by Jerusalem Post. Few countries in the world would allow goods to travel from a territory run by a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of its neighbor, yet Israel does. Once the necessary proceedings are completed, the crossing will be reopened. Israel doesn't want to inflame the situation, but it also cannot allow explosives from Gaza to reach the West Bank, which is already seeing increased terrorist activity.

Predictions