On Sunday, tens of thousands of Palestinian civil servants went on strike in protest against the failure of the Hamas-led government to pay wages. For six months, Hamas has not been able to pay almost any civil servant's salary due to the US-EU economic embargo.
The result of this? Jan Egeland, the UN's humanitarian coordinator, rightly declares: people in Gaza are "living in a cage".
Even the previously-kidnapped FOX News cameraman Olaf Wiig called the situation in Gaza a tragedy and insisted it should be reported on.
It is puzzling as to why the international community is handling Israeli aggression on Gaza differently from Lebanon. The United Nations came to the decision that the attacks on Lebanon must stop and that international peace-keeping forces must be stationed near the borders to monitor the situation, but this has not even been suggested for Gaza due to Israeli's absolute refusal. Having peace-keeping forces would expose Israeli crimes and human rights abuses.
The saying (which was introduced years ago) that Gaza has been locked up and the key has been thrown into the seastill stands today but with greater accuracy.
Gaza is being re-occupied and the whole world is watching. This time around, the brutality is even greater: border crossings are being closed, all sorts of supplies are being denied access into the Strip and Palestinian hospitals as well as schools and universities are facing daily suffering.
A delegation of Physicians for Human Rights, which recently visited the Gaza Strip, was deeply concerned over a developing humanitarian crisis. What's more, the delegation urged Palestinian medics to seek an international investigation into unexplained injuries among the dead and wounded in operations by the Israeli military stressing there might have been use of unconventional/illegal weapons. These are important declarations made by an independent voice and they should not be ignored or taken lightly.
Not having basic necessities such as electricity or running water is now the norm in the occupied territories; all but 20 per cent of the population lives in poverty.
More convenient
It is clear that Israel is happy to be occupying the Palestinian territories from the outside it was definitely more convenient for them during their war on Lebanon. Today, we find that the Israeli military still "makes its presence" at the Rafah crossing yet the Kadima party continues to credit itself for implementing the "Gaza disengagement" plan. Just the other day, Israel announced the construction of 690 homes in two colonies in the occupied West Bank despite the blatant fact that they have been deemed illegal by all standards.
Israeli assassinations (which usually include shelling and bombing indiscriminately) are routine and most of the time they result in the killing of innocent civilians. In the last two months, Israel killed more than 200 Palestinians, including 62 children.
Israel has also been busy kidnapping dozens of Hamas politicians. This act certainly undermines Hamas's political project and pushes people to lose faith in the democratic political system.
Yes, Israel, the Palestinian economy has been crippled and the people have reached the maximum point of frustration. What is the aim behind this?
A social explosion is definitely on the cards as the UN humanitarian coordinator suggested whereby people will react and will do so very strongly. Israel is ultimately hurting itself by acting so unjustly towards the Palestinian people.
The question is, how far will people go to seek justice? Just like Israeli aggression gave birth to Hamas and Hezbollah in the past, so too will a new generation stand up against these crimes. But according to Israeli standards, opposing Israeli aggression is considered "terrorism" where as Israel's rampage of people who dare to react is "self-defence".
Through the war on Lebanon, we were able to verify that Israel's claim to having to defend its security was just a code for its unlimited aggression. Shouldn't the international community learn from that lesson and start to see that Israeli actions in Palestine have been equally as illusory and deceptive?
When it comes to the Palestinian leadership, it seems with the continuous Israeli intrusions, it will be very difficult to determine if Hamas could have governed more successfully or not.
