Back to full prison status: Israel closes Gaza border crossings indefinitely

Israel has said it's shutting the only two operating Gaza border crossings indefinitely. This comes a day after a projectile hit Israel from the strip, but caused no damage. Border closures threaten to isolate already devastated Gaza completely.

© Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Palestinians walk past trucks loaded with gravel at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip.

The move will affect both the Kerem Shalom and Erez border crossings, reported, quoting Israel's defense establishment. The authorities have notified the Palestinians of the decision.

Meanwhile, the three other crossings into Gaza are still not operational and the passage from the area into Egypt - the Rafah crossing - remains closed.

From now on and until further notice, only critical humanitarian aid going into Gaza will be allowed via the Erez crossing.

The news comes after the Iron Dome defense system detected a projectile fired from Gaza overnight on Friday. There was no damage reported and no one has claimed responsibility for the incident.

"Overnight a rocket or mortar launched from Gaza struck southern Israel. No damage or injuries reported," Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said on Twitter.

It was not immediately clear if Israel's move on Sunday was connected to the incident.

Meanwhile, Egypt has stepped up its plans to create a buffer zone on the Gaza border, in Cairo's ongoing campaign against underground tunnels dug from the restive Sinai Peninsula, Ynet News reported. In Rafah, buildings are being demolished, while some of the local residents are leaving, fearing a new escalation of violence in the region.

Border closures threaten to cut off Gaza from much-needed humanitarian aid, which could make a dire situation in the area even worse. The Gaza Strip requires substantial rebuilding after Israel's 50-day Operation Protective Edge this summer left much of its infrastructure in ruins.

Comment: Every few months Israel makes use of a weak excuse to launch a military operation on Gaza and murder as many civilians as it can before the world protests in horror. When the global outcry becomes too loud, a truce is agreed, based upon a few concessions, such as the opening of the borders so that the Gazans can get much needed essentials to rebuild their towns. And then, after some more time, Israel simply reverts back those minimal concessions so they can keep on strangling Gaza, as they always intended. By this time the world has already forgotten so not much is said.

Notice that Israel did not even make it clear that the closure was related to the launch of the alleged 'rocket' (you know, those mysterious home-made rockets that very rarely manage to do any actual damage or injure human life, and which have the only real effect of providing an excuse for Israel to retaliate). Notice as well that no one claimed responsibility for it. For all we know, no rocket was even fired, and if it was, it was by someone working for Israel's agenda.