Over the past 10 years, the Israeli military has expanded restrictions on access to farmland on the Gaza side of the 1949 Armistice Line between Israel and Gaza – also known as the ‘Green Line’ – and to fishing areas along Gaza’s coast, with the stated intention of preventing attacks by Palestinian armed factions.

“This regime has had a devastating impact on the physical security and livelihoods of nearly 180,000 people, exacerbating the assault on human dignity triggered by the blockade imposed by Israel in June 2007,” states the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP), which carried out a study on the impact of the restrictions.

Israel imposed the blockade on Gaza, where some 1.5 million Palestinians live, over three yearsthe cultivation of open-air crops, mostly wheat and barley.

One coping mechanism in the fishing sector has been to sail into Egyptian waters to buy fish from Egyptian fishermen, which is subsequently sold in markets in Gaza. The trips to the sites where these transactions are conducted are long and dangerous, lasting between six and 10 hours in each direction, and expose fishermen to the risk of coming under fire or being arrested by Israeli or Egyptian naval forces.

Other fishermen opt to import Egyptian fish through tunnels running under the Gaza-Egypt border.

Some Palestinians also report the gradual liquidation or renting of personal and productive assets to generate income – from selling off women’s jewellery and gold, to selling or renting land, equipment, greenhouses, and livestock.

The restrictions also affect access