I – After World War I, the Gaza Strip was part of the British Mandate over Palestine until its dissolution in May 1948. Gaza was controlled by Egypt until the year 1967 without attempting to annex this area. Egypt imposed a military government in the land. Have you read about that Egyptian “occupation” in Gaza? Sounds suspicious… Right? In June 1967, the Gaza Strip came under the control of the Israel Defense Forces and immediately afterwards a military administration was established in the region. This was the case until the Oslo Accords came into being and until the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip in the year 2005.

II – In the negotiations between Israel and the PLO, the Declaration of Principles on an Interim Autonomous Government (9/13/1993) was signed, outlining a phased settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The parties signed the Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area (Cairo Agreement) on May 4, 1994. According to it, the Israeli army withdrew from most of the Gaza Strip, with the exception of the Israeli settlements, main access roads and the area of military installations along the southern border of the Gaza Strip with Egypt (the Philadelphia Route).

III – On 9/28/1995, Palestinians and Israelis signed the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which incorporated and replaced the Cairo Agreement. Based on these agreements, the Palestinian Authority maintained powers and responsibilities over all civil affairs and internal security in Gaza, except for Israeli settlements and military installations. Israel maintained control over foreign security, airspace, and the Gaza Strip. Israel also controlled all crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel and the international crossing between Gaza and Egypt (located at the Rafah Border Crossing).

IV – In 2004, in the framework of the situation of violence due to the Intifada and the lack of a Palestinian partner to reach a final agreement, Israel decided to unilaterally evacuate its troops and citizens from the Gaza Strip, an action known as the “Plan of Disengagement”. The implementation of the Disengagement Plan began on 8/17/2005 and lasted about three weeks. On September 12, 2005, the last of the Israeli soldiers left the Gaza Strip and the commander of the IDF’s Southern Division signed a proclamation ending the military rule in the area.

According to Israeli public statements, the total evacuation of Israeli citizens and military from the Gaza Strip (Disengagement) was aimed at reducing friction with the Palestinian population and improving conditions of the economy and the lives of the Palestinians. The hope was that “the Palestinians will seize the opportunity created for them through the withdrawal, in order for them to break out of the cycle of violence and return to the dialogue process.” The move was also intended “to serve dispel allegations regarding Israel’s responsibility for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.” The Palestinians in Gaza continued to fire missiles at Israeli civilians…

The Gaza Strip is an autonomous Palestinian territory situated on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt to the southwest for 7 miles and Israel to the east and north along a 32-mile border. The territory is 25.5 miles long and 3.8-7.5 miles wide, with an area of 227 square miles inhabited by about 1.85 million Palestinians (there are no reliable censuses or data available). Gaza has an annual population growth rate of 2.91%, the thirteenth highest in the world, which is why it is often referred to as an overcrowded land.

The majority of Palestinians are descended from refugees expelled or who left their homes (the majority) during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. About half a million of these Palestinians live in refugee camps. The main city of the Strip is called “Gaza” (the highest density of population in the world, 4.459 people per square mile). The fertility rate in 1991 was 8.3 children, dropping to 4.4 children per woman in the year 2013. Sunni Muslims make up the predominant part of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip. In addition, an estimated 2.000-3.000 Arab Christians live with limited freedom of worship.

According to a report (in 2016) by the Palestinian Water Authority, the total water supply for domestic use in the Gaza Strip amounts to 95 mcm/a, of which 86% comes from municipal groundwater wells; 4% comes from desalination; and 7% from Mekorot, Israel’s national water company. As of 2015, 96.4% of the natural water drawn from the coastal aquifer – the Strip’s main source of water – is unfit for human consumption by the WHO standards. What implication does this have? They draw more water than they should.

During the years that Israel ruled the Gaza Strip, the local economy depended on the Israeli one. After the Disengagement 2005 and Operation Protective Edge (in the year 2014), GDP per capita plummeted to 1.700 u$ (West Bank 3,700 u$), the 174 world economy place (out of 223 countries). By 2015, the unemployment rate was 41% due to (a) the fall in foreign trade after the year 2005 and the imposition of export restrictions; (b) severe damage to capital and infrastructure due to the Gaza-Israel wars; and (c) the level of population growth in Gaza.

The Gaza Strip is entered, if the products arrived from Israel, through the Kerem Shalom border crossing. On foot, towards Israel, you enter through the Erez border crossing. The boundary between the British hinterland (Egypt) and the Ottoman Empire were established in 1906 and is a line between Rafah and Eilat. In 1948 Egypt occupied it to use it as a base to attack Yafo-Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem during the 1948 war and later serve as a base of operations for attacks by the Fedayouns. Currently, and under Hamas, the Gaza Strip is practically an independent state.

In the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, Hamas won the majority of seats in the first round of the elections in the first democratic elections held in Palestine, defeating the ruling Fatah party (Palestinian Authority). The “List of Change and Reform”, as Hamas was called at that time in those elections, obtained 42.9% of the votes and 74 of 132 seats. Mahmoud ‘Abbas; President of the Palestinian Authority; refused to provide funds for the security forces that would now be dominated by Hamas (civilian government). In May of 2007, Abbas unilaterally dispersed military forces in Gaza and Hamas reacted by seizing power.

Unfortunately, and despite not a single Israeli remained in Gaza (2005), the political and security situation in Gaza continued to deteriorate. In January 2006 the Hamas organization won elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council and was invited by Fatah to join a coalition government headed by the latter. In June 2007 Hamas carried out a coup in the Gaza Strip in a violent campaign, leading to the murder and assault of dozens of Fatah officials. After this coup, Hamas gained control over all the Palestinian government apparatuses in Gaza.

After the coup d’état and the seizure of power by the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza (in the year 2007), the Islamists increased their missile attacks against Israel. In response to these deliberate attacks from the Gaza Strip (towards Israeli civilians), Israel imposed limitations on the transfer of goods and the border crossing of people between Israel and the Gaza Strip. If they had not attacked, the relationship between Israel and Gaza would have continued without any harm. If Hamas had not intentionally fired missiles, Israel would not have needed to launch counterattacks or any type of operations such as Operation Cast Lead (December 2008) or the Operation Protective Edge (summer 2014).

Although the legality of the Hamas government in Gaza has been questioned by the international community and by Israel, it must (from the legal point of view) be considered as the de facto replacement for the Palestinian Authority government. The Palestinian Authority government was seen by the international community (and by Israel) as the legitimate government of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after the disengagement. Consequently, if the latter is accepted as a truly independent government that is not dependant of Israel, the same must be considered to the Hamas government, despite the brutality of its coup.

When does a foreign occupation end? While the Law of Belligerent Occupation does not provide an explicit answer, the accepted approach is compared to a “mirror image” of the conditions for its creation, that is, when the occupying army no longer maintains effective control over the territory and in instead, there is a new regime that has such control. The occupation can end by means of an agreement or when the occupier is forced to leave, but also, by a unilateral act of leaving the occupying power. Israel fully withdrew from the Gaza area in the year 2005.

What actually happens is that there are special circumstances that lead to certain obligations and responsibilities by Israel (self-assumed or so defined by the Supreme Court of Justice of Israel). These do not stem from a defined body of legal norms, such as the right of occupation, but from a sui generis situation that requires adequate and flexible definitions. There is a reality; a democratic and progressive society like Israel is influenced by humanitarian motivations, although a Hamas dictatorship has been imposed in Gaza, Israel is morally obliged to help the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.

The basic formulation to define an “Occupation” is found in Article 42 of the Hague Regulations Relating to the Laws and Customs of Land Warfare (1907), which establishes: “A territory is considered occupied when it is in fact placed under the authority of the enemy army. The occupation extends only to the territories where such authority has been established and can be exercised.” It is mutually agreed that, in its essence, the territory is considered occupied when it is under the “effective control” of a foreign army. There is not a single Israeli soldier in Gaza. How do they control the area then?

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) says that a hostile and aggressive occupation exists when the occupying army actually exercises its authority on the territory, thereby supplanting the authority of the sovereign government in that area. According to that, Israel does not occupy Gaza. Period. A different approach to the “effective control” test focuses on the “potential” ability of an army (in this case Israel) to maintain its authority over the area (Gaza Strip) and the inability of the sovereign government (now Hamas) to exercise their authority. Ask Gazans if Hamas doesn’t rule them.

You claim that Israel occupies Gaza because the West Bank (Judea Samaria) and the Gaza Strip are a single territorial unit and therefore, even after Israel´s withdrawal from the Strip, it does remains an occupant of this unified entity through its (supposed) control of the West Bank. This statement does NOT have any legal basis. The fact that the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are considered a political unit does not change the reality that they are 2 separate geographic units. Hamas rules Gaza and does not consider itself subject to the authority of the Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank.

You say that Israel continues to occupy the Gaza Strip because it can re-enter the region militarily. Israel considers itself involved in an armed conflict with the Hamas government and therefore has the “right” to participate in military operations that sometimes take place in the Strip. It is totally legal. It is like in Lebanon, from where Israel withdrew in the year 2000, but sometimes must respond to Hezbollah attacks. Israel has nothing to look in a hostile area like the Gaza Strip… No oil, water, or land. Nothing at all. Period.

You say that Israel “occupies the Gaza Strip” as it maintains control over the outer perimeter of the Strip, which controls the airspace and the marine zone, as well as the land border and the crossing points between Israel and Gaza. In terms of control, over the airspace and the sea (motivated by Hamas missile attacks), this in itself does not prove that Israel exercises governmental authority in Gaza. Israeli control of the border crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip is a natural reflection of Israeli sovereignty.

You say that Israel “occupies Gaza” as it maintains control over the outer perimeter of Gaza… please note that the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt (and the Rafah border crossing point) is not under Israeli control but under Palestinian-Egyptian control. Until recently, the border with Egypt had been kept closed due to the Egyptian government decisions. This means that when the Egyptians want it, “the Strip” will have an open external border. The opening or sealing of the Rafah Crossing Border point also means that Israel does not control the flow of people and goods to and from Gaza.

You claim Israel “occupies” the Gaza Strip as it does not allow Palestinians to approach its barbed-wire border. Do you usually invent for yourself an international law? It is very doubtful that this equates effective control, but even if it does, then at most, one could say that these areas remain occupied (although there is no effective government of Israel or anything like that in this area of land), but this is not enough to conclude that Gaza, as a whole, is under occupation. Terrorists approach the fence to fire missiles and dig tunnels… Let them know to don’t do it! And the “no approach” zone will surely disappear.

You say that the Gaza Strip continues to depend on Israel in many respects, such as for water and electricity supplies. Therefore… “There must be an occupation.” First of all, with the opening of the Rafah Crossing Point, the Gaza Strip is much less dependent on Israel than it was. Having an effect on the population of an area can NOT be considered the same as “exercising an effective control” of government over this population. Many states are heavily affected by their neighbors and yet they are not considered occupied by them. Does Argentina “occupy” Uruguay? It’s a ridiculous statement.

Since the year 2001, Hamas terrorists have purposely fired 20.000 rockets and mortars directed at Israeli civilians. In addition, they dug hundreds of tunnels, one of which was used to kidnap soldier Gilad Shalit (in 2006) within Israeli territory. Furthermore, Hamas has spent its budget on “hate education” and weapons, ruling the Strip monopolistically since the year 2007. While purposely exposing its population by placing intentionally installed rocket depots and missile launchers in mosques or in UNWRA schools, the Hamas leaders worry about hiding themselves in the basement of the Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

Relations between Israel and Hamas have the character of an armed conflict. No formal declaration of war is required. Rules of armed conflict apply. This means that Israel can control maritime traffic bound for Gaza (even when the vessels are at sea). The rules of naval warfare were not, in their entirety, codified in a treaty and are customary rules of a binding nature. They can be found in important manuals of the western navies (in particular, of the USA and Great Britain) and in the San Remo Manual (1995), prepared by a group of experts.

What is the legal basis for the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza? Relations between Israel and Hamas (which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007) have the character of an armed conflict, which means that the rules of the laws of armed conflict are applied here. This indicates that Israel can control maritime traffic bound for Gaza, even when the vessel is still at sea. Israel may not do so in the territorial sea of ​​a third country, such as Cyprus or another, but in times of armed conflict, Israel can control vessels on the high seas that are bound for Gaza.

Can Gaza be considered an enemy despite not being a state? According to international law, it is possible. According to various judgments of the Supreme Court of Israel, the conflict with Gaza is international and not internal, because Gaza is not part of Israel. Neither Gaza nor the West Bank were annexed by Israel, nor was Israel’s “law, jurisdiction and administration” extended to those places (as was done with East Jerusalem in 1967 and the Golan Heights in 1981). In 2005 Israel withdrew from Gaza and, in 2007, effective power went to Hamas.

On 2/1/2002, in the midst of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Israeli commandos intercepted in international waters, in the Red Sea, a Tongan-flagged ship named Karine A. It had been bought by the Palestinian Authority, and then led by Yasser Arafat. On the shores of Yemen they encountered agents from Iran and Hezbollah who filled the ship with 50 tons of weapons. The civilian cargo used to conceal the weapons totaled $3.000.000 and the weapons another $15.000.000. The shipment included 107 and 122 mm Katyusha rockets, projectiles mortar and anti-tank missiles. This is why the “blockade” was imposed

During Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009), Israel declared a blockade against the Strip to prevent the entry of weapons. The blockade of the Gaza Strip is legal (The San Remo Convention 1995 and according to the Palmer investigative commission (UN) on the flotilla to Gaza 2010). Palmer concluded that: 1) Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza is legal and Israel has the right to impose it; 2) the decision to break the naval blockade (by the flotilla) was a reckless act; 3) the conduct and the true objectives of the organizers of the flotilla, in particular the IHH, were violent.

To be legal, a blockade must be declared and announced, in an effective and non-discriminatory manner, and it must allow the passage of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population. In addition, the San Remo Manual (1995) includes two conditions: first, the state applying the blockade must decide where and when and through which port the aid should reach the coast (via Ashdod in Israel, for example). In addition, the state may require that, on the coast, a neutral organization verifies who will be the recipient of the assistance (in Gaza this does not happen due to Hamas’ rule).

A ship that clearly intends to violate the blockade can be stopped even at sea. For example, the detention of the flotilla bound for Gaza (The Mavi Marmara) in international waters, 100 km away, was totally legal (this was also established by the Palmer Report). Israel maintains its rights and is in full compliance with international law because it fulfilled all the aforementioned conditions for a legitimate blockade. For example, in January 2009, Israel notified the relevant authorities of its intention to establish a blockade of the Gaza coast, declaring that specific territory a hostile entity.

There is a long history of maritime blockades such as the one imposed by Israel on Gaza. During the Korean War (1950 to 1953), there was a blockade. In 1971, when Bangladesh tried to secede from Pakistan, India applied a blockade. During the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988, there was a blockade of Shatt el-Arab. Lebanon was blockaded, for several months, in the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, and Israel allowed safe passage from Lebanon to Cyprus for humanitarian purposes. In the treatment of the flotilla (2010), Israel acted according to international law because it met all the conditions of a legitimate blockade.

To be legal, the blockade must be general, known and public, and a perennial humanitarian crisis in the blockade must be avoided. To avoid this crisis, Israel delivers water and sells diesel to Hamas that governs Gaza (despite the Palestinians firing thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians). When a ship with humanitarian aid tries to go to Gaza, the Israeli Navy stops it and takes it to the port of Ashdod, there it checks if it hides weapons and if it carries humanitarian products, it delivers them to the Palestinians through the Keren Shalom crossing border. This is what happened with the Mavi-Marmara (in 2010).

Until September 2000 (the Second Intifada), civilians from Gaza entered Israel to work or to heal. Per year, more than a million entries were registered. Although Israel is still at war with Hamas/Gaza today, in May 2017 alone, 2.282 entries were requested, of which 47.2% were approved. Permits for the entry of patients from the Gaza Strip must receive authorization from the Palestinian Authority, but due to the internal war between the latter and Hamas, for long periods the Palestinian Authority has refused to extend permits to Gazans.

In 1970, Israel lifted the industrial zone at the Erez Crossing border point because the logic was that if the Palestinians developed economically there would be less violence. Thousands of Palestinians worked there. There were dozens of attacks and the firing of Palestinian rockets. On 6/8/2003 three Palestinian fighters threw grenades and fired, killing 4 Israeli soldiers. On 8/31/2004 the Israelis caught a suicide bomber ready to blow himself up. On 6/20/2005, a suicide bomber was arrested with medical permission who was attempting to attack the Soroka hospital in Beer-Sheva. On 5/22/2008, a truck bomb with hundreds of kilos of explosives exploded in Erez.

The import process from Israel to Gaza is as follows: After buying an item in Israel, the Palestinian delivers the invoice purchased at the Palestinian Ministry of Economy in Gaza (dominated by Hamas), thus receiving permission to import, then goes through the Palestinian cooperation authority that gives the amounts purchased and reasons to its Israeli counterpart. Some dual-use products (military and civil) require more control and time to approve export from the Israeli side. Machines and medicines take longer because, in some cases, they can and have also been used for military purposes.

Because Hamas uses now and used before construction materials for its bunkers and tunnels to attack Israeli civilians, the Hebrew state is very careful to deliver uncontrollable quantities to Hamas in Gaza. The same happens with dual-use materials, which can be used to make weapons or missiles. Most of the construction materials enter Gaza from the Egyptian side. From January to June 11, 2014, 16% of what had entered in the year 2007 entered Gaza, due to the warlike use that Hamas terrorists made of these materials

These were the definite data on the economic relations between Israel and the Gaza Strip (in 2013) before the war. From Israel to Gaza they crossed 1.5 million tons of products, in 60.000 trucks, 60.000 tons of fruits and vegetables, 40.000 head of cattle (meat). All this worth about 381 million dollars. These data do not take into account the products that Hamas introduces through the tunnels or those that cross legally from Egypt (Rafah). Then the fighting started (similar to the year 2014) and Gaza’s economic weakness means that they can no longer buy products from Israel.

In 2014 the population of Gaza was 1.8 million and unemployment reached 40%. Those who did have jobs were: 70,000 laid-off public employees who still received salaries from the Palestinian Authority, another 45.000 Hamas employees in Gaza, NGO workers such as UNWRA (90% Hamas member employees) and those who had private businesses. Keep in mind that since 2007 between 2.500 and 3.000 businesses has closed. For example, before the Hamas coup 70.000 people worked in construction and after the closure of the Egyptian tunnels only 6.800 did so.

Until Egypt (in 2014) closed the tunnels through which all kinds of goods entered the Gaza Strip, Hamas controlled and levied taxes for the passage of goods via the 1.200 tunnels that linked Gaza-Egypt. Through those tunnels cash was also entering from Qatar (who received and laundered donations from Muslims around the world). In 2007, Hamas’s budget in Gaza was 150 million and after 7 years of rule there, its budget reached 894 million dollars a year. Public employees went from being 5.000 in 2007 to 45.000 to the present day.

Before the military operation Protective Edge (2014), the Hamas budget reached 500 million dollars and that money came in cash, paid by Qatar, and by taxes collected from the citizens of Gaza. Hamas leaders went on to exercise monopoly on everything brought into the Gaza Strip, becoming a small wealthy mafia. Hamas leader Khaled Masha’al lives in a palace in Doha and travels in private jets. If before, the advantage of Hamas was due to the fact that it was less corrupt than the Palestinian Authority, now the situation has drastically changed.

Until the year 2011, Hamas’s main benefactor country was Iran, and by various estimates 80% of Iran’s foreign aid was directed for Hamas’s armed wing. Due to Hamas opposition to Assad in Syria and he being a great ally of Iran, Hamas had to leave Damascus (then its headquarters) and Iran stopped giving them money. For 6 years, Qatar has been the main financier and, with the approval of Israel, some 25 million dollars per month are given to the rulers of the Gaza Strip (this is how they pay public employees).

Also Turkey (in addition to Qatar) was helping Hamas financially. In recent years, Turkey has donated $350 million for various projects in the Gaza Strip, including the construction of hospitals. In the Turkish case, unlike to what happened with Qatar, it is known where the money went since the projects were accomplished by Turkish professionals who came to Gaza. Turkish President Erdogan is also a Sunni Islamist so his support for the terrorist group is natural in the region. In the past, secular Turkey was a great ally of Israel.

In the Interim Agreements (1993), Israel and the Palestinians had agreed that Gaza’s fishermen could fish up to 12/20 miles from the coast. After the Hamas coup in Gaza (in 2007), the kidnapping of Shalit and the firing of missiles at Israel, fishing was limited to six miles from the coast. The policy of reducing the fishing zone was due to Israel’s declaration of Gaza as a “hostile entity” in January 2009. Should Israel withstand thousands of missiles against its civilians and not legally declare Gaza as a hostile entity?

he Gaza-based, Hamas-dominated pro-Palestinian NGO Al-Mizan said in a statement that “Israeli Navy vessels fire heavy rounds at fishing boats to prevent them from exceeding the limit.” For its part, the Israeli NGO Betselem denounced that the reduction of the fishing limit “constitutes a collective punishment and severely damages the subsistence of the fishermen.” True or false. The solution is very simple, if Hamas stops firing thousands of missiles at Israeli civilians, Israel will not declare Gaza a hostile entity hostile to Gaza and Hamas’ fishing zone in Gaza will be expanded.

Do you actually know why Israel controls the shores of Gaza? Here´s an example … On 1/19/2015, the Israeli Navy intercepted off the coast of Gaza, a ship with tons of contraband material to be destined for Hamas, in the Gaza Strip. The three suspects (Mahmed Bechar, Awad Ahmed and Zaidi Zaidi) admitted that the materials were destined for building missiles and mortars in Gaza. The boat appeared to be of fishermen, but under the fishing materials were hidden liquid fiberglass, basic material used for the manufacture of missiles and mortars and destined for the terrorist group Hamas. Did you know that?

Some 30.000 people were engaged in the fishing industry in Gaza. When Hamas does not fire rockets, the fishing zone is expanded to 15 miles and when it does attacks Israel, the area is limited from 9 to 6 miles. Many times, Gazans instead of getting angry at Hamas for causing this, focus their anger on Israel. Data released by the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture shows that despite the headlines, the economic contribution of the fishing industry to the GDP in Gaza is quite limited, estimated at less than 5%. Currently (in 2019) there are 4.000 fishermen in the Gaza Strip.

According to the latest data published in the Gaza Strip, there are around 1.200 vessels of various types. With the limitation of fishing space, the average income of Gaza fishermen in most cases does not exceed 200 NIS per day ($60). Due to difficult fishing conditions, several businessmen and fishermen in Gaza have tried to install fish ponds based on seawater. The production of the fish ponds is estimated at around 300 tons per year, but it costs the customer 40 shekel per kilo and that is a very high price to pay for that item.

At the end of the warlike round in November 2012, Hamas leader Khaled Masha’al established Hamas’s strategy to destroy Israel, based on two main and complementary elements: the army and the political element. Masha’al suggested that Israel’s military superiority could be defeated by gaining tactical military advantages, taking advantage of Israeli vulnerabilities, narrowing its military options through the use of political-legal tools, and with the help of left-wing western human rights “defenders” organizations. From the military point of view, Hamas’s effort focused on developing rockets (quantity and quality) and in digging attack tunnels.

It is important to emphasize: firing rockets deliberately against the civilian population is a war crime. At the start of Operation Protective Edge in the year 2014, the Israel Defense Forces estimated that some 10.000 rockets filled Hamas and the Islamic Jihad warehouses. Many of those rockets were provided by Iran and Syria or were stolen from the Libyan arsenal. Iranian warships delivered their weapons at ports in Sudan or Syria and from there were brought into the Gaza Strip, through tunnels, along the border between Egypt and Gaza. Such were the cases with the M-302 and Grad rockets and mortars.

Hamas rockets: 1) Short range (15-20 km): 1000 units of self-produced rockets (15 km), 2500 units of smuggled rockets (15 km), 200 Grad rockets of own production (20 km) and 200 smuggled Grad rockets (20 km). 2) Medium range (up to 45 km range): 200 own Grad rockets and another 1000 upgraded Grad smuggling rockets (45 km). 3) Medium-long range (80 km): more than 400 self-produced rockets. 4) Long-range (100-200 km): a dozen rockets. They are not rudimentary rockets. Possibly, Hamas (year 2021) has more rockets than in 2014

Hamas’ self-made missiles called M75 are explained this way: the number 75 is for their range and the letter M is for Ibrahim Muqadma, one of Hamas military terrorist wing leaders, who was killed by Israeli military forces in 2003. On March 10, 2014, the ‘The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades inaugurated a square in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City in the name of Muqadma, who includes a monument with an M75 rocket. Since 2001, more than 17.200 missiles and mortars, an average of 3 per day, have been aimed at Israel.

Hamas and other terrorist organizations launch mortars, rockets and missiles at Israeli cities. Since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip (in the year 2005), terrorists have fired more than 11.000 missiles at Israel. More than 5 million Israelis are currently living under the threat of missile attacks. More than half a million Israelis have less than 60 seconds to find shelter from a rocket launched from Gaza into Israel. Most of the missiles launched towards Israel are capable of reaching Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. There are no Israelis in Gaza but they keep launching missiles and you remain quiet…