This House believes that Israel should lift the blockade of Gaza

Israel has maintained a land, air, and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip since June of 2007 when Hamas took control of the Palestinian region. Egypt also maintained a blockade on Gaza from its border until 2011 when it decided to allow people but not aid to go through. The Israeli government maintains that the blockade is necessary for security reasons: Hamas' charter expresses a desire to eradicate the state of Israel, Hamas has launched rockets from Gaza at Israeli civilians, and Hamas uses the ports to smuggle in weapons which are believed to be for use against Israel. In 2010, a Turkish flotilla attempted to break the naval blockade of Gaza claiming that it violated international law¹. Facing this and other international pressure, Israel significantly eased the blockade in 2010, allowing all non-military items in upon inspection. Opponents have continued to criticize the blockade because of the economic and humanitarian harm it poses to the 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip, with some calling it a "humanitarian crisis" and others calling it a PR disaster for Israel. The arguments for both sides of the debate are presented below.

¹ http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/the-china-post/special-to-the-china-post/2011/07/06/308832/Gaza-flotilla.htm