Gaza: Palestinian human rights activists, researchers, and figures have confirmed that the Israeli occupation has exploited the Gaza Strip’s crossings during the war it has been waging for over 700 days as a tool of collective punishment and direct control, resulting in serious violations of international humanitarian law.
According to Qatar News Agency, they emphasized that the Israeli occupation was not satisfied with the siege imposed on the Strip during the war, but sought to dismantle official Palestinian frameworks, such as the Crossing Authority, which oversees and manages the Gaza Strip’s crossings. This is done to create chaos and conflict, undermining the work system at the Strip’s commercial crossings to tighten its grip on them and exploit this as part of its punishment, oppression, and starvation against civilians in Gaza.
Director of the Coalition for Integrity and Accountability (AMAN) office in the Gaza Strip, Wael Ba’alousha, stated that since the beginning of the aggression, the Israeli occupation has exploited the Strip’s crossings as a tool for collective punishment and direct control, leading to serious violations of international humanitarian law. This includes corruption linked to the occupation’s management of the crossings during the war.
In an interview with QNA, Ba’alousha pointed out that the occupation’s misuse of the Gaza Strip’s crossings has led to structural corruption in their management during the war. This has created ground for unfair practices and corruption, negatively impacting the local Palestinian economy in the Gaza Strip.
Vice President of the Palestinian Contractors Union, Suhail Al Saqa, stressed that the crisis stems from the practices of the Israeli occupation, which has imposed a blockade and sought to dismantle official Palestinian frameworks, such as the Crossings Authority, to create chaos among merchants.
In a separate interview with QNA, he explained that the coordination of goods entry from outside the Strip, previously managed in an organized manner, has become a tool in the hands of the occupation, distributed selectively, fostering corruption and extortion, and enabling occupation control over the type and quantity of goods allowed in.
Al Saqa called for a unified committee to coordinate goods. This committee would regulate the system transparently, including representatives from the private sector and chambers of commerce, in cooperation with humanitarian organizations. This body would manage the matter, free from occupation control, restoring discipline, ensuring transparency, and ending bribery and corruption.
Political researcher Talal Abu Rukba highlighted that the Israeli occupation has exploited its control over the Gaza crossings as a tool of collective punishment within systematic actions.
Speaking to QNA, Abu Rukba indicated that the occupation has built a system devoid of transparency, characterized by exploitation and structural corruption, controlling aid entry, goods, and individual movement, using humanitarian needs as a political and economic blackmail card, deepening population crises.
Chair of the Board of the General Union of Cultural Centers (GUCC) Yusri Darwish emphasized that the Israeli occupation is at the forefront of the corruption system that has spread during the war in Gaza, targeting the entire Palestinian system.
Speaking to QNA, he explained that the occupation has created chaos by controlling trade and crossings, selectively distributing privileges, noting that humanitarian aid entry has been politicized and manipulated.
The speakers agreed on the need for organized international action to confront corrupt Israeli practices in managing the Gaza Strip crossings, recommending the establishment of a permanent oversight mechanism under UN or ICRC supervision, to monitor operations and prevent the crossings from being used for political blackmail or collective punishment.
They recommended an impartial mechanism to monitor aid entry, publication of transparent reports on aid volume, criteria for rejection or delay, and documentation of violations for submission to the Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court as crimes under international humanitarian law.
Since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli entity has closed all commercial crossings and passenger terminals, preventing the entry of goods and aid, worsening the humanitarian situation in Gaza.