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Report: IDF recommends easing Gaza restrictions, expanding border crossing openings
According to Haaretz, senior IDF officers have recommended to Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon that restrictions on goods entering the Gaza Strip should be further eased and that greater numbers of Gaza residents should be allowed across border crossings into Israel.
The restrictions are designed to prevent Hamas from importing weapons and materials to build its military infrastructure. However, they have been relaxed by Israel during 2015. Israel has doubled the amount of water it supplies to Gaza after a coastal aquifer became ineffective. In addition, the number of entry and exit permits to Gaza merchants has been increased and Israel has also facilitated the export of significant Gaza produce to the West Bank, an important market for the Gaza economy.
Although the past several weeks has seen rockets periodically fired into Israel from Gaza, including a Grad rocket which landed near Ashdod, Haaretz reports that senior IDF officers have made a number of recommendations to Ya’alon. A senior General Staff officer is quoted saying, “As long as the basic economic problems in Gaza remain, we will also have the potential for renewed military conflict.”
The recommendations include thousands of Gazans being granted permission to travel abroad, exiting through the Erez crossing and continuing to Jordan via the Allenby Bridge. Meanwhile, the officers suggest re-opening the Karni crossing to goods, which has been closed for four years. Although 550-600 trucks already pass daily through the Kerem Shalom crossing, the officers wish to see its use expanded too. They also recommend that several thousand Gazans be allowed to work in Israeli communities bordering the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Col. Nochi Mandel, the deputy commander of the Gaza Division, told Israel Radio yesterday that Hamas is busy rearming. He said, “According to what we know, Hamas is building its forces up again … It is training its forces and boosting the number of mortars that it manufacturers. It continues to bolster its arsenal and dig more tunnels.”