Dozens of Palestinian workers in Israel returned to besieged Gaza on Friday following an Israeli government decision to expel Gazan laborers from the country. <\/p>\n
The workers were among the Gazans who were in Israel early last month, when Hamas launched a brutal assault on the country, killing 1,400 people and kidnapping more than 200. Israel retaliated with an unrelenting bombing campaign on Gaza. <\/p>\n
Prior to the October 7 attacks,\u00a0about 18,000 Gazans\u00a0had permits to cross into\u00a0Israel\u00a0and work, where they could earn significantly more than in\u00a0Gaza. <\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael\u00a0is\u00a0severing\u00a0all\u00a0contact\u00a0with\u00a0Gaza. There will be no more Palestinian workers from\u00a0Gaza. Those workers from\u00a0Gaza\u00a0who were in\u00a0Israel\u00a0on the day of the outbreak of the war will be returned to\u00a0Gaza,\u201d the government press office said Thursday. <\/p>\n
The cabinet also said it would deduct funds that are designated for\u00a0Gaza, including funding from the Palestinian Authority \u2013 a separate government body with limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank \u2013 that would go to\u00a0the strip. <\/p>\n
Over the past few years, Israel began issuing thousands of work permits for Gazans to cross into Israel as part of an economic incentive strategy Israeli authorities had hoped would encourage Gazans to distance themselves from Hamas. The enclave is home to more than two million people, most of them refugees. <\/p>\n
Following Hamas\u2019 terror attacks, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shut all access to the enclave and many Gazans working in Israel became stuck. <\/p>\n
Unemployment levels in Gaza are among the highest in the world, with nearly half of the population out of work, according to 2022\u00a0UN data. More than\u00a0than 80%\u00a0of the population lives in poverty. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor at least the last decade and a half, the socioeconomic situation in Gaza has been in steady decline,\u201d\u00a0UNRWA, the UN\u2019s main aid agency in the enclave, said\u00a0in August. <\/p>\n
For nearly 17 years, Gaza has been almost totally cut off from the rest of the world, with severe restrictions on the movement of goods and people. <\/p>\n
The 140-square-mile enclave is ruled by Hamas but blockaded by Israel and Egypt, since 2007, and relies heavily on imported fuel and electricity to run all its services. <\/p>\n
In response to Hamas\u2019 terror attacks, Israel imposed a \u201ccomplete siege\u201d on the enclave and stopped all food, water, medicine, and fuel supplies from entering Gaza, deepening a humanitarian crisis. <\/p>\n
Israeli airstrikes have killed over 9,000 people, half of them children, and injured about 22,000 others, according to figures released Thursday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, which draws from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave. <\/p>\n