section_path: Status/Israeli occupation/Characterization as open-air prison
section_name: Characterization as open-air prison
paragraph_text: Characterization as open-air prison
  
  Several rights groups have characterized the situation in Gaza as an "open-air prison", including the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and the Norwegian Refugee Council. This characterization was often cited by a number of human rights activists, politicians, and media news outlets reporting on the Gaza–Israel conflict and the wider Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron, US Senator Bernie Sanders, Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, and Israeli historian Ilan Pappe have endorsed this characterization as well.
  
  In 2022, Human Rights Watch issued a report on the situation in the Gaza Strip, which it called an "open-air prison" due to the blockade and held Israel responsible as the occupying power, and to a lesser degree Egypt, which has restricted movement of Palestinians through its border. The report highlighted how this blockade has led to humanitarian crises, namely shortages of essential supplies, limited access to healthcare, and high levels of poverty and unemployment among the Palestinian population in Gaza. It claimed that Israel has formed a formal policy of separation between Gaza and the West Bank, despite both forming parts of the Palestinian territories. The Israeli blockade on Gaza has restricted the freedom of movement of Gaza Palestinians to both the West Bank and the outside world; in particular, Palestinian professionals were most impacted by these restrictions, as applying for travel permit takes several weeks.
  
  The Norwegian Refugee Council report issued in 2018 called the territory "the world's largest open-air prison", highlighting in it several figures, including lack of access to clean water, to reliable electrical supply, to health care, food and employment opportunities. It lamented the fact that a majority of Palestinian children in Gaza suffer from psychological trauma, and a portion of which suffer from stunted growth.