Several years ago, Israel came under pressure from many in the international community to ease restrictions on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, in order to alleviate the suffering of the two million Palestinians living there. The pressure came despite Hamas's repeated terror attacks against Israel, including more than 31,000 rockets and mortars fired from Gaza at the civilian communities of Israel, a country the size of New Jersey, before 2023, accompanied by violent riots by the terror group at Israel's border.
In the nearly two years since 2023, an additional 19,000 rockets and missiles have been fired at Israel from Gaza.
Which European country would tolerate 50,000 rockets, mortars and missiles fired at it -- or even one rocket or missile?
Since 2023, Israel nevertheless expressed its readiness to help the residents of the Gaza Strip despite the continued attacks and threats by Hamas to pursue its Jihad (holy war) against Israel.
As part of this assistance, Israel went as far as allowing Qatar to send billions of dollars to the Gaza Strip primarily for humanitarian aid, civil servant salaries and infrastructure, often channeled through international organizations, including the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Qatar funded fuel for Gaza's electric power plant, construction materials for infrastructure projects, and food rations for impoverished families.
Israel approved much of this funding, delivered in cash, as part of a policy to maintain calm and stability in the Gaza Strip. Israel's goal was not to "prop up" Hamas. Rather, it was a humanitarian gesture of goodwill to alleviate the impoverished condition of many Gazans in the hope that aid might avoid another round of fighting with Hamas. Previous rounds of fighting had seen many Palestinians killed, as well as the destruction of hundreds of homes throughout the Gaza Strip. The fighting was always triggered by Hamas's terror attacks.
In addition to allowing funding from Qatar and many international aid organizations, Israel gradually increased the number of Palestinian workers allowed to cross into Israel from the Gaza Strip.
After Hamas's brutal and violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Israel was forced to ban many Palestinians workers from Gaza from entering Israel for security reasons. Needless to say, Israel's security concerns were not unjustified. The October 7 attack resulted in the murder of more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and the wounding of thousands. Out of 251 Israelis and foreign nationals kidnapped to the Gaza Strip on that day, 48 remain in captivity. Only 20 are believed to be alive.
Beginning in late 2014, Israel resumed authorizing some workers from Gaza to enter Israel through a limited quota of "merchant permits." The main purpose of these permits was to provide economic incentives to maintain calm in the Gaza Strip. The number of permits steadily increased in 2022 and 2023, reaching between 18,000 and 18,500 by October 7, 2023, with plans to increase the number to 20,000.
On September 28, 2023, two weeks before the October 7 massacre, Reuters reported:
"Israel reopened crossing points with Gaza on Thursday, allowing thousands of Palestinian workers to get to their jobs in Israel and the West Bank, after nearly two weeks of closure prompted by violent protests [organized by Hamas] along the border. Around 18,000 Gaza's have permits from Israeli authorities to work outside the blockaded enclave, proving an injection of cash amounting to some $2 million a day to the impoverished territory's economy."
Reuters quoted an unnamed Palestinian official as saying that the Israeli gesture came "upon the request of [Egyptian and United Nations] mediators to de-escalate tensions."
Before the October 7 attack, the worst assault against Jews since the Holocaust, Israel went to unprecedented lengths to help the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and avoid another war with Hamas. Egypt, Qatar, the United Nations and other international parties kept assuring Israel that the best way to achieve calm and stability in the Gaza Strip was by improving its economy and issuing more permits for Palestinian laborers to enter Israel.
When Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, there was a lot of talk in Israel about turning the enclave into the "Singapore of the Middle East." Israel's goal, or dream, was to transform the Gaza Strip into a prosperous, thriving area, similar to how Singapore developed from a small, poor country into a wealthy, technologically advanced hub. Israel clearly wanted to open a new chapter in its relations with the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip and work together on economic and technology projects for the benefit of both people.
None of this took place. Shortly after Israel's withdrawal, Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip and transformed it into a large base for Jihad against Israel.
Hamas's leaders did not care about Gaza's young people. Hamas's leaders did not care about their medical treatment or schools. Rather, they had only one thing in mind: the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews.
Hamas's leaders also never cared about the unemployed laborers in the Gaza Strip. In the eyes of the terror group, these laborers were the responsibility of Israel, not of Hamas, which was functioning as the de facto government in the Gaza Strip. In their eyes, Israel -- which had completely pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 -- was solely responsible for providing humanitarian and economic aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip -- not the terror group.
When Israel imposed restrictions on the Gaza Strip to protect its own citizens and prevent terrorism, it was condemned for imposing suffering and pain on the Palestinians living there. When Israel started easing restrictions and handing out thousands of permits to Gazan workers to enter Israel (while Egypt and other Arab countries refused to accept Palestinians), it faced criticism for allegedly strengthening Hamas.
In the end, Israel paid a heavy and painful price. Israel had been led to believe that jobs, money and humanitarian aid would bring stability and calm, and had hoped that the humanitarian and economic aid would prevent, or at least reduce, terror attacks from the Gaza Strip.
However, Hamas and many Palestinians viewed these conciliatory measures as signs of weakness on the part of Israel. With or without the funding and humanitarian aid, Hamas anyway would have carried out its October 7 attack on Israel.
What the international community fails to understand is that since the establishment of Hamas more than 35 years ago, its stated goal has been the elimination of Israel. For Hamas, the conflict with Israel has never been about the economy or settlements or improving the living conditions of the Palestinians. Hamas regards Israel as one big illegitimate "settlement" that needs to be uprooted and replaced with an Islamist state.
Israel is damned both for helping the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and damned for not helping them enough. When Israel allows funding and economic aid sent into Gaza, as it did, Israel is blamed for helping fund Hamas's war against Israel. If Israel had refused to allow funding and economic aid to be sent into Gaza, Israel would be accused of starving and brutalizing the Palestinians. Everyone, it seems, wants to have it both ways so that whatever Israel does is "wrong."
Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
