An Israeli soldier casts a ballot a day early in the Israeli general elections at the Kerem Shalom army base in the south of Israel near the border with the Gaza strip, Oct. 31, 2022. (AFP)
West Bank, Gaza crossings shut down on voting day over security fears
More than 130,000 Palestinian workers will be unable to enter Israel, and the import and export of goods will be halted
Updated 31 October 2022
Mohammed Najib
RAMALLAH: Israeli security authorities oversaw a complete closure of West Bank and Gaza Strip crossings on the eve of parliamentary elections, fearing Palestinian armed attacks against Israeli targets during voting day, either inside Israel or in the West Bank.
All of the West Bank and Gaza Strip crossings with Israel will remain shut between midnight on Oct. 31 until midnight on Nov. 1 in view of Tuesday’s election.
More than 130,000 Palestinian workers will be unable to enter Israel, and the import and export of goods will be halted.
The Palestinian economy will suffer hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses because of the closure, Palestinian economic experts told Arab News.
Israel claimed that its intelligence services had received dozens of security reports that Palestinians were planning to carry out armed attacks in the West Bank and inside Israel, before and after the elections.
A surge in warnings over the past two days has raised fears among the Israeli military establishment about the possibility of attacks during election day.
The Israel Kan public TV channel reported that the Israeli intelligence services had received about 100 security warnings over the past few days concerning possible military attacks against Israeli Defense Forces targets and settlers in the West Bank
In response, the state of alert in Jerusalem was raised to the maximum level and Israeli military forces in Hebron were reinforced.
Israeli security services say that the rise in attacks and their extension from the north of the West Bank to the south — as happened on Oct. 29 in Hebron — has raised deep concerns.
On Sunday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid ordered the reinforcement of Israeli operative security forces in the Hebron area and the rest of the West Bank, beginning Sunday evening, and the continuation of high alert measures in all arenas, according to a statement by the PM’s office.
“We will act vigorously against the perpetrators of the attacks and their senders,” he said.
A senior Palestinian official who requested anonymity warned Arab News that armed attacks by Palestinians during the election period could result in vote swings toward right-wing figures such as Benjamin Netanyahu and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Some 650,000 settlers living in the occupied West Bank are expected to vote in Tuesday’s elections, making up a powerful voting bloc.
A senior Israeli army officer warned that the army might arrest wanted Palestinians who decide to surrender to Palestinian security services.
“We will not accept the killers of the soldier near Nablus two weeks ago surrendering themselves to the Palestinian security services ... even if they surrender, we will know how they can be caught.”
He added that the Israeli army and Shin Bet were engaged in a manhunt to find the assailants and prevent another shooting.
It is feared that the Israeli officer’s threat might hinder the efforts of the Palestinian Authority and its security services, who have tried to persuade members of the armed group the Lions’ Den to surrender.
Five senior members of the group surrendered to Palestinian security services last week, fearing that they would continue to be pursued by the Israeli army or killed.
“The Israelis do not want the Palestinian security to succeed in handling the security situation and practicing its authority inside the Palestinian cities,” a senior security official from the Palestinian Authority told Arab News.
“Therefore, every time the Palestinian security manages to take control over security, the Israelis foil us either by their multi-incursions or provocative declarations.”
DUBAI: Gaza’s fishing industry — once a critical source of food, income and affordable protein — has been largely destroyed as a result of Israel’s war with Hamas, worsening the Palestinian enclave’s food security crisis.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, fishing activity in Gaza now stands at less than 10 percent of prewar levels following the widespread destruction of boats, ports and equipment, combined with prolonged maritime closures enforced under Israel’s naval blockade.
UN and human rights organizations estimate that up to 72 percent of Gaza’s fishing fleet has been damaged or destroyed, alongside near-total devastation of related infrastructure, including landing sites, storage facilities and repair workshops.
Israel's naval blockade has Gaza's fishing industry to decline to about a tenth of pre-war levels. (Reuters photo)
The remaining vessels are small, damaged skiffs capable of operating only meters from shore.
Ramzy Baroud, a journalist, author and editor of The Palestine Chronicle, said the destruction of Gaza’s fishing sector must be understood as part of a deliberate policy aimed at preventing Palestinians from developing independent food-producing systems.
Baroud says Israel had pursued a strategy since 1967 to foster Palestinian dependency — first on the Israeli economy, and later on humanitarian aid entering Gaza through Israeli-controlled crossings — leaving the population permanently vulnerable to economic collapse.
“This vulnerability is functional for Israel, as it allows the Israeli government and military to leverage their control over Palestinian lives through political pressure in pursuit of concessions,” he told Arab News.
Palestinians were prevented from developing local industry through restrictions on imports and exports, while much of Gaza’s arable land was seized or turned into military targets, he said.
“Likewise, the fishing sector was deliberately crippled through direct attacks on fishermen, including arrests, live fire, confiscation of equipment, and the sinking or destruction of boats,” he added.
FAO has documented widespread destruction across Gaza’s coastal fishing areas.
“In Gaza’s fishing areas now lie broken boats, torn nets, and ruined infrastructure, standing in stark contrast to the once-vibrant industry that supported thousands of fishers for generations,” Beth Bechdol, FAO deputy director-general, said in a statement.
Before the war, more than 4,000 registered fishermen worked along Gaza’s 40-kilometer coastline, supporting tens of thousands of family members and contributing to local food security in an enclave heavily dependent on imports.
Today, the majority have been stripped of their livelihoods, as access to the sea has become sporadic, dangerous, or entirely prohibited.
For decades, fishing off Gaza was restricted to shifting maritime zones — typically between three and 12 nautical miles offshore — often tightened or closed entirely during periods of escalation.
Since October 2023, when the Israel-Hamas conflict began, humanitarian organizations say there have been extended periods of total maritime closure, effectively banning fishing and depriving Gaza’s population of one of its few remaining sources of local food production.
Baroud said the assault on Gaza’s fishing sector was not a by-product of war, but part of a deliberate strategy that intensified during the conflict.
“For Gaza, the sea represents freedom,” he said. “All of Gaza’s other borders are controlled by Israel, either directly or indirectly.”
Israel had consistently worked to deny Palestinians access to the sea, he said. And despite commitments under the Oslo Accords to allow fishing up to 20 nautical miles offshore, those provisions were never honored.
“The assault on Gaza’s fishing sector is therefore not incidental,” Baroud said. “It is about severing Palestinians from one of the few spaces not entirely enclosed by walls, checkpoints, and military control.”
Israel has generally rejected or not accepted accusations that it is unlawfully targeting Gaza’s fishermen, framing incidents at sea as enforcement of security zones or as under investigation rather than deliberate attacks on civilians.
In past lethal incidents at sea highlighted by Human Rights Watch, the Israel Defense Forces have typically said boats “deviated from the designated fishing zone” and that forces fired after warnings were ignored.
According to FAO, rebuilding Gaza’s fishing sector will be impossible without a fundamental change in access and security conditions.
“For Gazans, the sea was not just a source of food, but a source of livelihood and identity,” Bechdol said.
“FAO can assist to help rebuild Gaza’s fishing industry. But for this to happen, peace must first be established and fishers must be allowed to operate their boats and cast their nets without fear of harm.”
Ciro Fiorillo, head of the FAO office for the West Bank and Gaza, said the agency is primed to offer assistance once the security situation improves.
“FAO is ready to restart projects, replenish damaged boats and equipment, and inject emergency funds as soon as these key fishing inputs for production are allowed to enter the Strip, a sustained ceasefire is in place, and access to the sea is restored,” Fiorillo said in a statement.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel triggered the Israeli military assault on Gaza, much of the enclave has been flattened, tens of thousands killed, and some 90 percent of the population displaced.
Even since the ceasefire came into effect with the exchange of hostages and prisoners in October last year, pockets of violence have continued and humanitarian needs remain dire. The collapse of fishing has only compounded an already catastrophic food crisis.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has repeatedly warned that the destruction of food-producing systems — including agriculture, fisheries and markets — has pushed Gaza toward famine, with households facing extreme shortages of protein and calories.
With farmland destroyed, livestock killed and imports severely restricted, fish was once among the few foods that could still be sourced locally.
Its near disappearance has driven prices beyond reach for most families and increased dependence on limited humanitarian aid.
“This is about denying Palestinians access to life itself — to survival,” said Baroud.
The destruction of fishing forces Palestinians into deeper dependence on humanitarian aid that Israel itself controls, effectively weaponizing food rather than allowing Palestinians to sustain themselves independently, he said.
Human rights groups documenting maritime enforcement report that fishermen attempting to operate — even close to the shore — face gunfire, pursuit, detention and arrest, contributing to a climate in which fishing has become a life-threatening activity rather than a livelihood.
According to rights monitors, the destruction of larger vessels has eliminated the possibility of reaching deeper waters, forcing the few remaining fishermen to operate in unsafe, shallow zones with damaged equipment, limited fuel and no protection.
Baroud said international law clearly obligates an occupying power to protect civilian livelihoods and ensure access to food and means of survival.
“The systematic targeting of fishermen — who are civilians engaged in subsistence activity — cannot be justified as a military necessity, especially when it results in starvation and famine,” Baroud said.
He said the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the targeting of livelihoods.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has described the restriction of Gaza’s fishing sector as part of a broader assault on civilian survival systems, warning that the denial of access to the sea has direct implications for nutrition, employment and aid dependency.
Baroud said the recovery of Gaza’s fishing sector could not occur in isolation from the broader economy.
“Only a measure of real freedom for Palestinians — freedom of movement, access to land and sea, and the ability to import, export and produce independently — can allow Gaza’s industries and economy to recover,” he said.
Without ending the system of control governing Palestinian life, Baroud said, any discussion of reconstruction or recovery would remain hollow.
As famine warnings intensify, the fishing sector’s collapse stands as a stark example of how Gaza’s food system has fractured.
What was once a daily livelihood is now reduced to occasional, high-risk attempts to secure food.
With no functioning fleet and no safe access to waters, Gaza’s fishermen are operating at the edge of survival.
