OCHA reminds us this week in its monitor of the “buffer zone” in place inside Gaza, an area in which the Israeli military prevents Gaza residents from getting within 300 meters of the border between Israel and Gaza – even those trying to earn an unlikely livelihood. This week, OCHA reports, Israeli soldiers entered Gaza and arrested 10 Palestinian civilians who were collecting scrap metal near the border; they were later released.

Arrests in this area and sporadic incursions are of course a clear reminder to Gaza residents that Israel still exercises control over their lives, even if control over the movement of goods and people, felt via an invisible hand, has a greater effect on their lives.

A ban on the entrance of raw materials, for example, has closed factories and contributed to Gaza’s X% unemployment rate – which may have driven those 10 people to risk nearing the border for the few shekels they could earn selling scrap metal. Other job-seekers are looking to the public sector, as the Hamas government is one of the few employers hiring. It was reported last week that 14,000 candidates responded to a call for 1,000 positions in the police – also a risk, given the fact that civilian police have been targeted in Israeli airstrikes.

These job-seekers in Gaza may not have dreamed of a career in metals-trading or law enforcement, but without the raw materials necessary to engage in gainful production – it looks like they will risk their lives to pursue it.

The economy in Gaza, which has been virtually shut down for over two years, sustained a serious blow last January: 1,135 business facilities were damaged, including 324 factories.

Hamad adds that it is unclear how it will be possible to reactivate businesses while a ban on the import into Gaza of raw materials remains in place, and considering that the factories that were most severely damaged were those processing metals and construction materials. Israel is still adamant that construction materials pose a threat to its security and therefore are banned from entering Gaza.

As Israel continues active discussions, in the media and amongst institutional players about whether the claims of war crimes in the Goldstone Report require further investigation, another recommendation made by the Goldstone Commission  has been pushed aside: the recommendation that the closure of the Gaza Strip be immediately lifted and that the free passage of people and goods be allowed.

Despite calls from the EU that the “cycle of destruction and reconstruction” needs to be broken, and the huge amount of money amassed for the reconstruction plan, only 7% of the factories in Gaza are currently operational, Hamad reports. These are the few that are able to acquire raw materials and are not dependent on selling to markets outside the Gaza Strip.