Talk:Gaza Strip

Open air prison characterization
The article mentions that the open air prison characterization began when the 2007 blockade started, but this is not true. See for example Amira Haas' 1995 book with a whole chapter called "Gaza Prison" discussing the permit system and restrictions on movement which go back to at least 1991.

Additionally, as early as 2004 Giora Eiland referred to it as a "huge concentration camp" https://www.makan.org.uk/glossary/the-gaza-strip/

Even in 2008 (just a year after the beginning of the blockade), Adalah described the conditions: "The metaphor of the Gaza Strip as the world’s largest prison is unfortunately outdated. Israel now treats the Strip more like a zoo." DMH223344 (talk) 16:46, 22 March 2024 (UTC)


 * If we have the sources, then I would support the characterization of a "prison" (effectively) from whenever. Selfstudier (talk) 17:38, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Without Egypt blockading it's part of the border it wouldn't be a blockade. HudecEmil (talk) 18:00, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

Blockade dispute
This recent edit dispute should be discussed.

I personally favour the version reading "The current land, sea, and air blockade [...]"

@Alaexis, @DMH223344

- IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 09:44, 27 March 2024 (UTC)


 * We should say "The current land, sea, and air blockade [...]" or "Israel's land, sea, and air blockade [...]"
 * The blockade is an Israeli effort which is supported by Egypt. RS typically refer to it as an "Israeli blockade" or just "blockade of the Gaza Strip". See for example this FA article for a typical description of Egypt's role "The Egyptian government, after all, has been party to the 16-year-long Israeli blockade of Gaza, enforcing tight controls on what comes in and out of the enclave through the border crossing at Rafah." (emphasis mine)
 * For the movement of people, Israel controls the population registry--without Israeli approval, people in Gaza cannot leave, even through Rafah. For the movement of goods, Gaza has historically traded primarily with Israel and the West Bank (through Israel), Israel's restrictions are much more relevant. This is aside from the fact that Egypt enforces tight restrictions on Rafah border crossing, while Israel enforces tight restrictions on land, air and sea entry. See this quote from Gisha's report "Rafah: Who controls the keys?":
 * Also, see this quote (cited in Roy 2016) from an Egyptian official on the status of Rafah:
 * DMH223344 (talk) 15:39, 27 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Gisha also describes Egypt's military cooperation with Israel as a mechanism through which Israel influences control over Rafah. This is no surprise, as the current Egyptian regime is aligned with the US and Israel. DMH223344 (talk) 16:37, 27 March 2024 (UTC)
 * There are plenty of sources that say that both Israel and Egypt have been blockading Gaza, both scholarly ones (David Faris, Dissent and Revolution in a Digital Age (2013), p. 110) and newspapers.
 * Your own quote from Roy 2016 confirms that Egypt has its own goals (not having to deal with Gaza) and enforces a policy which is consistent to it (enforcign a blockade while tolerating some smuggling). Alaexis¿question? 22:28, 27 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Of course egypt has its own goals, that's besides the point here. Egypt's blockade plays a relatively minor role. Insisting that the Egyptian blockade must be mentioned every time we describe the Israeli blockade, misses the relative importance of the two. In your edit summary, you suggest that we remove these details entirely from the lead or keep the phrasing which incorrectly attributes air and sea blockade to Egypt. I disagree with both suggestions on the basis that the Israeli blockade is much more important than the Egyptian blockade.
 * > There are plenty of sources that say that both Israel and Egypt have been blockading Gaza,
 * Of course, Egypt does indeed support the blockade effort. DMH223344 (talk) 00:12, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * What makes you think that the Israeli blockade is so much more important that the Egyptian one should not be mentioned at all?
 * The sources I provided treat Egypt and Israel similarly . Alaexis¿question? 07:15, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Did I say it shouldn't be mentioned? I said the current phrasing suggests to users that Egypt is involved in the air a sea blockade (which it isnt). DMH223344 (talk) 15:16, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Did I say it shouldn't be mentioned? I said the current phrasing suggests to users that Egypt is involved in the air a sea blockade (which it isnt). DMH223344 (talk) 15:16, 28 March 2024 (UTC)


 * I would support the edit by Alaexis. The blockade is very important because it creates the conditions for mass death of Palestinians, i.e. the civilians can not escape the area of active warfare and potential hunger, this can regarded as a war crime. And the role of Egypt is critically important. Israel is a country-combatant that is not supposed to transfer people from the other side to its territory (consider Russia that takes Ukrainians to its territory as such example). On the other hand, Egypt could easily allow the free passage of civilians from the war zone, voluntarily of course. But it does not. That's significant. My very best wishes (talk) 03:13, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * None of your points here are relevant to the edit. DMH223344 (talk) 03:45, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * I explained why including Egypt (as Alaexis did) is important. My very best wishes (talk) 03:59, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Did I disagree that it's important? DMH223344 (talk) 04:33, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * The Israeli blockade is a major part of why the international community regards Gaza as occupied, while no-one at all regards Egypt as an occupying power, as noted by HRW "In 2022, Human Rights Watch issued a report on the situation in the Gaza Strip, which it called an "open-air prison" due to the blockade and held Israel responsible as the occupying power, and to a lesser degree Egypt, which has restricted movement of Palestinians through its border." This is the most accurate portrayal of the situation. Selfstudier (talk) 15:27, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * And I think the edit in question does portray it this way. I think we all agree that Egypt is important. There would be no blockade if it allowed free movement of Palestinians through its border. My very best wishes (talk) 16:38, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * No, Israel would still be blockading Gaza's coast and restricting the usage of its territorial waters and airspace.  nableezy  - 16:53, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Also the source cited doesnt support it is a blockade by Egypt and Israel at all, it rather says it is just Israeli. And many more sources say Israeli blockade that is supported by Israel. I removed the contested part as unsupported by the source cited.  nableezy  - 16:55, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * The lead does currently say: The blockade became indefinite after the 2007 Hamas takeover, supported by Egypt through restrictions on its land border with Gaza., and it is supported by . Moreover, another ref (a recent HRW report) does say: “Israel, with Egypt’s help, has turned Gaza into an open-air prison,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch.. My very best wishes (talk) 17:37, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes and I didn’t remove that.  nableezy  - 17:51, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
 * I think your last edit was fine, given that the phrase The blockade became indefinite ... is already there. This is something so minor I am surprised we are having such discussion. My very best wishes (talk) 02:16, 29 March 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request
In the intro, next to polity please add in West Asia. 2600:100C:A219:7127:1469:5428:B808:466 (talk) 11:04, 5 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Shadow311 (talk) 13:56, 5 April 2024 (UTC)

Introductory Paragraph
The introductory paragraph should include a statement about the population density in Gaza such as "The region has a considerably larger population density than the rest of Palestine." Calling the region "small" is a tad misleading without this clarification. 2600:1700:AC00:A390:4CA8:F6CC:54C9:372C (talk) 01:42, 25 April 2024 (UTC)


 * dont use undefined terms like small. Use actual figures and direct comparsons and let the reader decide if it is small. 2604:3D09:1583:7700:34D3:7E7:A71:757F (talk) 14:39, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 14 May 2024
The number killed on October 7 2023 has been revised to 1,163, including 767 civilians. Source: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2024/02/04/israel-s-iraqi-moment_6492786_23.html Sustnabili Thuy (talk) 08:24, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made.  thetechie@enwiki  :  ~/talk/  $  03:05, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

Updates
Article has become outdated, as there is minimum mention of how the ongoing Israeli invasion ravaged the strip. Needs addressing. Makeandtoss (talk) 12:31, 29 May 2024 (UTC)

Outdated count of UN member states that have recognized Palestine.
The current page says only 138 member states of the UN as well as the Holy See have recognized Palestine but as of June 12, 2024, that number is now 144 according to the Wikipedia article it links to. I cannot edit it myself so I'm making this post. Atemp624 (talk) 11:05, 12 June 2024 (UTC)


 * Done. Selfstudier (talk) 11:08, 12 June 2024 (UTC)

"Gaza death camp" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gaza_death_camp&redirect=no Gaza death camp] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Anonymous 19:42, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

Population size in infobox
The current population size estimate doesn't make sense. It says 2,375,259 for year 2022, and the reference is an Arabic article in a Chinese news site quoting Hamas.

There are a few more reliable sources, one of which should be used instead:


 * PCBS, in this document, says 2.257M at the end of 2023, which is -100K, a year later. (Another document from the same source says 2.23M for mid-2023.)


 * cia.gov's estimate is 2.14M for 2024, so seemingly more recent. The same source is used in Demographics of the State of Palestine.

galenIgh 22:50, 3 July 2024 (UTC)
 * It seems the UN estimate is somewhere in between, based on List of countries by population (United Nations), which shows a total of 5.37M for Gaza + West Bank in mid-2023, compared to PCBS's 5.548M at end-of-2023.
 * ✅ Using cia source. GrayStorm(Complaints Dept.&#124;My Contribs.) 23:13, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Nice touch on updating the density too.
 * By the way, that relates to another uncertain piece of data that might need updating: the area. But on a cursory search I don't see a conclusion.
 * The article currently says 365 km² but the two references don't support it:
 * Ref 1, the PDF article, doesn't seem to say it at all (searched, haven't read the whole thing).
 * Ref 2, cia.gov, actually contradicts it and says 360 km².
 * Britannica says 140 mile² / 363 km².
 * galenIgh 21:40, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

ICJ ruling
ICJ ruling has declared the Gaza Strip to be occupied regardless of the 2005 "disengagement", elaborating that occupation is not about the existence of military forces but the presence of an alternative authority in the territory in question. This should be reflected in this article. Makeandtoss (talk) 10:24, 20 July 2024 (UTC)