Occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt truce was achieved. Israeli forces proceeded to withdraw from Sinai and Gaza. On 24 February 1949, the Israel–Egypt Armistice Agreement was signed in Rhodes. Under the agreement, the armistice line was drawn along the international border (dating back to 1906) for the most part, except near the Mediterranean Sea, where Egypt remained in control of a strip of land along the coast, which became known as the Gaza Strip. (See 1949 Armistice Agreements.) The All-Palestine Government was an entity established by the Arab League on 22 September 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, purportedly to provide a Palestinian government for
Gaza Strip aid. The Red Cross claimed that the blockade harms the economy and causes a shortage of basic medicines and equipment such as painkillers and x-ray film. Israel claims the blockade is necessary to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. For example, in 2014, a Panamanian-flagged ship claiming to be carrying construction materials was boarded by the IDF and was found to contain Syrian produced rockets. Israel maintains that the blockade is legal and necessary to limit Palestinian rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on its cities and to prevent Hamas from obtaining other weapons. Director of the Shin Bet