Israel–Gaza barrier launched the Gaza War, consisting of airstrikes and ground incursions against targets in the Gaza Strip, with the stated aim of stopping the rocket fire from and arms smuggling into the territory. The war ended on 18 January 2009, when both sides ceased military action. Israel completed its withdrawal on 21 January, and thousands of rockets and mortars have been fired from the Gaza Strip since. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared support for the Egypt–Gaza barrier, adding: "It is the Egyptians’ sovereign right in their own country. Legitimate supplies should be brought through the legal crossings", although he made
Gaza Strip Israel as the occupying power in Gaza under the traditional law of occupation," but that some legal theories might downplay the significance of the lack of an Israeli presence on the ground, and that Israel still continues to exercise some control over Gaza in parallel with the Palestinian Authority. Shany wrote that "in order to identify the ultimate power of government in Gaza one should engage in a comparative analysis of the degree of effective control exercised by the two competing sources of authority." Some analysts have argued that the Gaza Strip can be considered a "de facto" independent state,