The Gaza Strip as "Enemy Entity"
Israel's security cabinet voted Wednesday to declare the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity," a move that gives Israel the power to cut off all vital supplies to the region.
Shipments of electricity, fuel and goods will be affected, although the cabinet has not decided when such sanctions will be put in place.
. . .
Most of Gaza's 1.4 million residents live in poverty and are almost entirely dependent on Israel for the supply of electricity, water and fuel. Sanctions could deepen their hardship and spark international condemnation.
I would add that a good part of the reason the Gaza Strip's residents are dependent on Israel for electricity and the rest is because the Israeli bombing campaign targeted the Strip's generating capacity, plus the fact that the region has been living under a virtual siege.
Like so much else with the Israeli-Palestinian situation, this is ugly. A form of collective punishment that forces innocents to suffer for the actions of extremists, who target and kill innocent civilians on the other side. The cuts may work to stop or at least slow down the rocket attacks, but it won't win the Israelis any friends.
And the worst part of it, of course, is that the Israelis really don't have any good options here, Doing nothing while rockets land in their territory is unacceptable. Easing up on the sanctions and air strikes makes them look weak, and tightening the sanctions and increasing the attacks makes them look like monsters. Textbook asymmetrical warfare, and a bloody mess.
