Comment by jjcon

1 year ago

> where they were before October 7th except civilians would be much worse off. Still living under Israeli occupation with limited freedom of movement

Israel hasn't had any presence in Gaza for nearly 20 years.

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jjcon

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notaustinpowers  1 year ago

A lack of presence does not equal a lack of control. Israel still controls Palestinian air and maritime space, telecommunications, water, electricity, and border crossings.

While Israel may not have had a military presence since 2006, their control over the region did not do the same.

  • jjcon  1 year ago

    Goalpost moving aside, that statement is definitively untrue.

    For one, Israel does not control the Gaza border with Egypt (which shocker... Egypt does). Israel has provided a ton of humanitarian aid to Gaza over the years including water and electricity but they do not control their water or electricity (kinda hard to do that or even claim that is being done since they don't have a presence in the country).

    • notaustinpowers  1 year ago

      >Israel does not control the Gaza border with Egypt.

      You're correct. But Palestine has no Egyptian consulate, so Palestinians are not able to secure a Visa of any kind to travel to Egypt. Israel does have an Egyptian consulate though, but Palestinians need permission from Israel to enter.

      >Israel has provided...water and electricity but they do not control their water or electricity.

      The Coastal Aquifer is the only groundwater source of water in the Gaza Strip. Gaza is at the end of the basin, however, Israel has built multiple deep wells and, essentially, extracts all water from the aquifer before it reaches Gaza's border. Israel then sells that water to Gaza. As well, Israel does not allow the West Bank to transport water to Gaza.

      While Israel does not entirely control electricity within Gaza, Israel does supply Gaza with around 20% or so of their power and restricts fuel entry into Gaza which powers Gaza's only power station. At the start of this recent war, Israel has turned off their supply of power to Gaza and has not allowed fuel to be delivered to Gaza. Effectively turning off all power in Gaza. What power remains is usually through generators or solar power.

      While the actions Israel has taken regarding power supplies to Gaza can be taken as a military decision to cut power to Hamas, we cannot overlook how this affects the 2 million civilians that also live in Gaza who have no say in this war.