Today more than 1.4 million Palestinian men, women, and children are trapped in the Gaza Strip. Their daily lives - in an area of land just 40 km long and 9.5 km wide - are marked by power shortages, little or no running water of poor quality and deteriorating health care. Mass unemployment, extreme poverty, and food insecurity both exacerbate and are deepened by the impact of the Israeli blockage, which was brought into force in 2007.
The six controlled crossings, five controlled by Israeli authorities and one by the Egyption authorities are kept closed and prevent the movement of Palestinians into and out of Gaza in all but a handful of exceptional humanitarian cases.
