Israel Kept Gaza 'on Brink of Collapse'

Israel purposefully kept Gaza’s economy “on the brink of collapse," Israeli officials told the U.S. in 2008, according to cables disclosed by WikiLeaks. The goal was to “keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge," and to keep Gaza, home to 1.3 million people, "functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis.” In a speech that year, then-Prime Minister Ehud Ohlmert said medical and food supplies would still flow to Gaza, but "there is no justification for demanding we allow residents of Gaza to live normal lives while shells and rockets are fired from their streets and courtyards.” The cables were first published by Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.