Human Rights Watch Says Israel’s Gaza Blockade Restricts Movement and Medical Care

Human Rights Watch described how the Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza 15 years ago “touches virtually every aspect of daily life,” including “freedom of movement” and access to “getting medical care.”

“The goal did not change, only the name did”

Al-Jazeera Net

In the same interview, Omar Shakir said Israel “imposes a generalized travel ban on the Gazan population,” and that to exit “one must obtain an Israeli permit, rarely granted.”

Al-Jazeera Net

The interview also described how the Erez crossing is “controlled by the Israelis” and “being inaccessible to most Gazans,” while the Rafah crossing “has become the main gateway for Gazans to the outside world.”

Human Rights Watch said the blockade has “decimated Gaza's economy,” with “80% of the population” depending on humanitarian aid, and it quoted a person who had been refused a travel permit multiple times saying: "There is no future in Gaza... There is only a death sentence."

L'Express reported that U.S. President Donald Trump, during a trip to Qatar on Thursday, May 15, said the United States wanted to take the Gaza Strip, ravaged by “19 months of war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas,” and turn it into a “zone of freedom.”

The same article said the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) announced on Wednesday it planned to begin distributing aid in the Gaza Strip “by the end of May,” and that it intended to distribute “nearly 300 million meals for an initial 90 days.”

Amnesty International

L'Express also quoted Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, saying the U.N. “will not participate in it,” and that the distribution plan was “not in line with our core principles, including impartiality, neutrality, and independence.”

The article added that “Since March 2, no humanitarian aid has entered the Palestinian territory,” and it said the UN opposed alternative plans proposed by Israel and the new foundation, while Haq insisted that “trucks carrying 171,000 tons of food are waiting to enter the territory.”

Al-Jazeera Net said Israel “returned to revive the same project” after months of failure to find a country willing to accept Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, renaming it from “voluntary migration” to a “Freedom of Movement Plan.”

“Tell me about life in Gaza since the Israeli blockade was imposed 15 years ago”

Human Rights Watch

The outlet reported that Israel’s occupation ordered Mossad security chiefs “to stop using the expression 'voluntary migration', and to adopt the term 'Freedom of Movement Plan' in all meetings and official correspondence.”

It also described an urgent meeting convened by the new head of the Israeli National Security Council, Shmuel Ben Ezra, with representatives from the army, Mossad, Shin Bet, and the Defense Ministry, to discuss what was described as “encouraging voluntary migration” of Gaza residents.

Al-Jazeera Net further stated that Haaretz reported Mossad representatives at the meeting admitted they had “not yet succeeded in finding any country willing to receive residents of the enclave,” and it said the Security Cabinet approved the creation of the “Directorate for Voluntary Transition of Gaza Residents” in March 2025, before Defense Minister Yisrael Katz announced the establishment of a body charged with arranging transfers by land, sea, and air to a third country.