In the dark after midnight, it was like rush hour in the northern Gaza Strip.
Thousands of Palestinian workers had heard that Israel was to open its side of the Erez crossing at dawn after 12 days of closure in response to renewed violent protests by the separation fence with Israel in the east of the impoverished territory.
It was the news that Amjad Hassan, a builder who is the sole breadwinner for 13 relatives had been praying for. “We work on a daily wage, if we don’t work, we don’t feed our families,” he explained.
A father-of-five, Nabil, said the crossing closure had been “the greatest disaster” for him, as he accrued a large debt to the middleman who had arranged his Israeli permit while he was unable to work to pay it off. He had feared losing his coveted permit altogether.
Some 18,000 Gazans are currently authorised to work in Israel, giving them respite from the dire economic situation at home. Dramatic photographs showed many waiting at the crossing point overnight. Some slept in corridors, on the floor, even on a baggage scanner in a reception hall belonging to Hamas, the Islamist militant group which governs Gaza.
After a period of relative calm in Gaza, demonstrations restarted along its boundary fence earlier this month, with hundreds of young Palestinians turning out most days to confront Israeli soldiers. The rallies have been approved, even encouraged, by Hamas.
Protesters have burnt tyres, thrown stones and explosive devices, and released incendiary balloons and kites into southern Israel, which have set fire to farmland and scared Israeli communities living nearby. Some have shot at soldiers, the Israeli military says. It has responded with tear gas and live fire.
One Palestinian at the fence was shot dead by Israeli forces and on another occasion, six were killed, apparently by a malfunctioning Palestinian explosive device.
At one point earlier this week, the Israeli military responded to what it called the “violent riots” using a drone, helicopter, and tank to hit several targets in Gaza, including Hamas militant posts. There were no reports of any casualties.
Hamas says that young Palestinians have organised events in response to the tough living conditions in Gaza, which has been under a tight Israeli-Egyptian blockade for the past 16 years, since the group took over the territory. It suggests they have also been motivated by Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, told the BBC that it was “a unified picture of a national struggle in all arenas”. —BBC
