The Goldstone Report examined more than just the few weeks of the Israeli incursion into Gaza. It also looked at what it called the “continuum of policies” that led to Operation Cast Lead. In the report’s conclusions, the mission called the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip – which restricts the movement of people, goods, and services in and out of the territory – “collective punishment” of Gazans.
Paragraph 1,878:
“The effects of the prolonged blockade did not spare any aspect of the life of Gazans. Prior to the military operation, the Gaza economy had been depleted, the health sector beleaguered, the population had been made dependent on humanitarian assistance for survival and the conduct of daily life. Men, women and children were psychologically suffering from long-standing poverty, insecurity and violence, and enforced confinement in a heavily overcrowded territory. … This was the situation in the Gaza Strip when the Israeli armed forces launched their offensive in December 2008.”
