Israel will stop doing business with Gaza until further notice

Palestinian sources claim that the Israeli government has announced that beginning on Tuesday, it would stop allowing exports of products from the Gaza Strip until further notice.

According to the sources, “Israel informed the coordinating commission run by the Palestinian Authority that all goods will be prevented from exporting through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the sole commercial crossing in the territory,” Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

According to the sources, Israel prevented an effort to transport explosive materials across the border before making its judgment.

An attempt to transport explosive devices, concealed in a truck carrying garments from Gaza, was prevented at the border, according to a press release sent to Xinhua by Ghassan Alyan, coordinator of Israeli government operations in the Palestinian territories.

“After the smuggling attempt,” he said, “the Israeli authorities decided to stop shipping goods from Gaza to Israel and the West Bank.”

Despite the suspension’s possible detrimental repercussions on the economic situation in the strip, Israel would not allow the “terrorists to exploit the civil and humanitarian field in Gaza,” Alyan warned.

In a press release, the Islamic Resistance Movement’s (Hamas) Economic Ministry denounced the choice, claiming that “it violates human rights in Gaza.”

The Ministry noted that the choice “will make the economic situation in the strip more difficult and create more obstacles to economic activities, especially in the industrial and agricultural sectors”.

It urged the international community to put pressure on Israel to change its mind and allow shipments through the border.

Since the Hamas organization took control of the enclave in 2007, Israel has placed a strict siege on the Gaza Strip, which is home to more than two million people. Since then, the strip’s economy has become worse, forcing its people to struggle in substandard housing.