Israeli Military Research Articles

Lip-service to service: the Knesset debates over civic national service in Israel, 1977–2007

This article explores the social and political dynamics behind the various legislative proposals to establish a civic national service programme in Israel, and the role of Israel’s High Court as a catalytic force for changing policy on this controversial issue. The idea of civic national service for those not inducted into the Israel military has been a controversial issue in Israel since the early years of the state. While Jews and Druze were inducted into the armed forces, Israeli Arabs, religious women and ultra-orthodox yeshiva students were either exempted or deferred from service. Members of Knesset primarily from small parties in the opposition proposed private member bills to establish an alternative civic service for those not serving in the army; however, Israel’s governments rejected these proposals and only in the case of religious Zionist women did the government establish a voluntary programme. Political considerations and coalition politics as well as an interest in protecting the unrivalled predominance of the military (IDF) in Israeli society led successive Israeli governments to maintain the status quo. Only the intervention of the High Court obliged the government to review its policy and take action.

The impact of Herpes simplex virus type 1 on cognitive impairments in young, healthy individuals — A historical prospective study

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a highly prevalent neurotropic virus. Although on the whole, chronic, latent or persistent infection is considered to be relatively benign, HSV infections can cause cognitive impairment during and after acute encephalitis. Some studies have documented cognitive impairment in exposed persons that is untraceable to encephalitis. Most studies have focused on these impairments in the mentally ill, mostly among individuals with schizophrenia, and only recently have studies begun to examine the impact of HSV infection on the cognition of healthy individuals.Subjects were a representative, random sample of 612 soldiers before active duty in the Israeli military (Israeli defense force — IDF), 62.2% HSV positive (n=381) and 38.8% HSV negative (n=231). Cognitive functioning and language abilities were compared between these groups, controlling for years of education, immigration status, and gender.Compared to soldiers who were sero-negative, soldiers who were sero-positive for HSV had significantly lower IQ scores (IQ=97.96, SD=15.19 vs IQ=103.23, SD=14.23; p≤0.001, effect size (ES)=0.2), and significantly lower Hebrew language scores (ES=0.1, p≤0.01). The results remained significant after removing subjects with mild depression, anxiety or personality disorders. Although we could not control for socio-economic status directly, our findings indicate that infection with HSV-1 is associated with reduced cognitive functioning in healthy individuals. This finding adds to the growing number of studies in the schizophrenia literature and indicates that many research findings seemingly characteristic of schizophrenia are related to the association between HSV exposure and cognitive functioning in general, and are not illness specific.

A military suicide prevention program in the Israeli Defense Force: a review of an important military medical procedure.

The phenomenon of suicide during military service is not unique to the Israeli military and other armies. Soldiers’ age––adolescence––is a known factor contributing to suicide, in light of psychological processes of identity formation and self-definition, the stresses of military service, and above all, the availability of weapons. The stigma of seeking help deters some soldiers from getting the assistance they need when they need it most, thus contributing to the higher suicide rate. In the previous decade the IDF initiated intensive and structured preventive procedures aimed at reducing suicide rate among soldiers. The IDF’s Suicide Prevention Program (SPP) was grounded in professional knowledge and backed by military policy changes, both critical to the implementation and change processes. The SPP includes thorough psycho-education and guidance, supervision, greater accessibility of mental health officers, and lower accessibility of nonessential weapons. The SPP has succeeded in reducing the suicide rate by almost 50 %.The aim of this article is to review the background of the design of the IDF’s SPP and its major components, leading to the current success.

The Israel-Lebanon War of 2006 and the Failure of US Foreign Policy

This paper argues that the US encouraged the starting, continuation and even expansion of the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon in order to achieve its own hegemonic objectives in the region. While global hegemony has always been on Washington’s agenda, in the Bush administration, with neoconservatives sitting behind influential desks in the capital, the initiative got new impetus. According to this new approach, the goal was to be advanced with the confrontation and eventual defeat of the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah-Hamas axis, a move that would help create a ‘New Middle East’ in which opposition to US-Israeli policies would not be tolerated. The paper uses a Neoclassical Realist theoretical approach to show that Washington’s miscalculation of power relations in the region led to the failure of its foreign policy. Like the Iraq War of 2003, the 2006 Lebanon War was a disaster for the US. With the encouragement and support of the Americans, the Israeli war machine fought an inconclusive war with Hezbollah, as a result of which the status of the Israeli military as the Middle East’s ‘Invincible Army’ was shattered and archenemies Hezbollah and Iran were strengthened.

Alan Craig, International Legitimacy and the Politics of Security: The Strategic Deployment of Lawyers in the Israeli Military (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2013). Pp. 261. $75.00 cloth, $74.99 e-book.

Alan Craig, International Legitimacy and the Politics of Security: The Strategic Deployment of Lawyers in the Israeli Military (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2013). Pp. 261. 74.99 e-book. - Volume 47 Issue 1

IRAN W POJMOWANIU IZRAELCZYKÓW

The foreign policy of Israel towards Iran relies on the shared understanding of the leadership and the public in Israel of the reality, and hence agreement is also built regarding the steps that should be undertaken regarding Iran and its nuclear program. Through research of the social representations, it will be possible to identify the core images and bases of agreement of society in Israel and to identify the existence of alternative understanding of subgroups, which exist in parallel in the society. The findings indicate that the heterogeneity in Israeli society is expressed also in the collection of images and explanations regarding the nature of the State of Israel and regarding the Iranian threat. In the Jewish group it is possible to identify two systems of core representations: the first is collection of images of the Holocaust and the second is images of the Israeli-Arab conflict. In the Arab group differences among its sub-groups was found. Groups whose sons serve in the Israeli military created discourse similar to the Jewish group, and the other Arabs formed images around the status as a minority in the Jewish nation state.

Fractured oversight: The ABCs of cultural heritage in Palestine after the Oslo Accords

Palestine is a state in limbo—they lack full formal recognition as a sovereign land but possess a unique nation-state status that incorporates elements of a unified national consciousness and basic civil institutions albeit with limited autonomy. Palestine’s ambiguous political status is starkly illustrated by its convoluted territorial control, and nowhere is this more clearly attested than in the jurisdiction of archaeological sites and the display of artifacts in museums. The legislative colonial legacies of the Ottoman, the British Mandate, the Jordanians, the Egyptians, Israeli military orders, and the 1995 Oslo II Accords, which carved the Occupied Territories into a complex mosaic of areas—A, B, and C— have resulted in fractured oversight of heritage sites and objects. A case study focused on Herodium provides a fascinating lens for examining the efficacy of law and the administration of archaeological and object management in a contested landscape.

School as a place of violence and hope: Tensions of education for children and families in post-intifada Palestine

For children living in the context of political violence, school is often conceptualized as a safe physical place with education representing hope for the future. Yet school can also be a place of violence for some children, especially as they encounter the Israeli military and settlers on their journeys to and from school. Framed by Relph's (1976) theory of place as physical setting, activity, and meaning, this paper uses examples from research with 18 Palestinian families to better understand the tensions posed by school as a place of both violence and hope. The research suggests that children and families’ understandings of the place of school are complicated by the ongoing occupation and protracted political violence.

Borderline intellectual functioning is associated with poor social functioning, increased rates of psychiatric diagnosis and drug use – A cross sectional population based study

Borderline intellectual functioning is defined by the DSM IV as an IQ range that is between one to two standard deviations below the mean (71<IQ<84), and a considerable percentage of the population is included in this definition (approximately 13.5%). The few studies performed on this group indicate that borderline intellectual functioning is associated with various mental disorders, problems in everyday functioning, social disability and poor academic or occupational achievement. Using data from the Israeli military, we retrieved the social and clinical characteristics of 76,962 adolescents with borderline intellectual functioning and compared their social functioning, psychiatric diagnoses and drug abuse with those of 96,580 adolescents with average IQ (±0.25 SD from population mean). The results demonstrated that the borderline intellectual functioning group had higher rates of poor social functioning compared to the control group (OR=1.9, 95% CI=1.85–1.94). Individuals with borderline intellectual functioning were 2.37 times more likely to have a psychiatric diagnosis (95% CI=2.30–2.45) and 1.2 times more likely to use drugs (95% CI=1.07–0.35) than those with average IQ. These results suggest that adolescents with borderline intellectual functioning are more likely to suffer from psychiatric disorders, poor social functioning and drug abuse than those with average intelligence, and that borderline intellectual functioning is a marker of vulnerability to these poor outcomes.

Ankle dorsiflexion among healthy men with different qualities of lower extremity movement.

Lower extremity movement patterns have been implicated as a risk factor for various knee disorders. Ankle-dorsiflexion (DF) range of motion (ROM) has previously been associated with a faulty movement pattern among healthy female participants. To determine the association between ankle DF ROM and the quality of lower extremity movement during the lateral step-down test among healthy male participants. Cross-sectional study. Training facility of the Israel Defense Forces. Fifty-five healthy male Israeli military recruits (age = 19.7 ± 1.1 years, height = 175.4 ± 6.4 cm, mass = 72.0 ± 7.6 kg). Dorsiflexion ROM was measured in weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing conditions using a fluid-filled inclinometer and a universal goniometer, respectively. Lower extremity movement pattern was assessed visually using the lateral step-down test and classified categorically as good or moderate. All measurements were performed bilaterally. Weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing DF ROM were more limited among participants with moderate quality of movement than in those with good quality of movement on the dominant side (P = .01 and P = .02 for weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing DF, respectively). Non-weight-bearing DF demonstrated a trend toward a decreased range among participants with moderate compared with participants with good quality of movement on the nondominant side (P = .03 [adjusted P = .025]). Weight-bearing DF was not different between participants with good and moderate movement patterns on the nondominant side (P = .10). Weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing ankle DF ROM correlated significantly with the quality of movement on both sides (P < .01 and P < .05 on the dominant and nondominant side, respectively). Ankle DF ROM was associated with quality of movement among healthy male participants. The association seemed weaker in males than in females.

Ethno-national boundaries and the gendered body: Jewish women as a human shield

Through extending feminist insights in the studies of nationalism and boundary work theory this paper asks how the state responds when women cross ethno-national boundaries and act as the enemy's human shield and classifies and discipline citizens who cross ethno-national boundaries according to its internal hierarchy of belonging. By analyzing the state's practices of inclusion and exclusion the aim is to contribute to the understanding of the specific kinds of “state-work” and how the state acts to encourage or codify certain categories of inclusion and exclusions, with regards to gender, ethnicity and class. I apply the case of three Jewish Israeli women, Neta Golan, Angelica Yusupov and Tali Fahima who during the second intifada (2000–2005) used their privileged Jewish body as a human shield to protect Palestinian militant men against the Israeli military.

Incidence of colorectal neoplasms among male pilots.

To assess the prevalence of colorectal neoplasms (adenomas, advanced adenomas and colorectal cancers) among Israeli military and commercial airline pilots. Initial screening colonoscopy was performed on average-risk (no symptoms and no family history) airline pilots at the Integrated Cancer Prevention Center (ICPC) in the Tel-Aviv Medical Center. Visualized polyps were excised and sent for pathological examination. Advanced adenoma was defined as a lesion >10 mm in diameter, with high-grade dysplasia or villous histology. The results were compared with those of an age- and gender-matched random sample of healthy adults undergoing routine screening at the ICPC. There were 270 pilots (mean age 55.2 ± 7.4 years) and 1150 controls (mean age 55.7 ± 7.8 years). The prevalence of colorectal neoplasms was 15.9% among the pilots and 20.6% among the controls (P = 0.097, χ (2) test). There were significantly more hyperplastic polyps among pilots (15.5% vs 9.4%, P = 0.004) and a trend towards fewer adenomas (14.8% vs 20.3% P = 0.06). The prevalence of advanced lesions among pilots and control groups was 5.9% and 4.7%, respectively (P = 0.49), and the prevalence of cancer was 0.7% and 0.69%, respectively (P = 0.93). There tends to be a lower colorectal adenoma, advanced adenoma and cancer prevalence but a higher hyperplastic polyp prevalence among pilots than the general population.

The Association Between Body Mass Index and Increased Utilization of Healthcare Services: A Retrospective Cohort Study of 51, 521 Young Adult Males

To examine the association between the entire body mass index (BMI) range and healthcare utilization. Weight and height were measured during medical examinations of recruits prior to their entry into the military in Israel. All recruits were followed-up during service and all of their medical information was recorded in a central electronic medical record. We extracted medical and sociodemographic data for all Jewish male combat recruits during their first year of service. The study included 51,521 subjects who were divided into quintiles according to BMI. Using logistic regression models, we determined the association between BMI and high numbers of physician encounters, emergency room visits, referrals to specialists, imaging, laboratory tests, and medication prescriptions. In comparison with the lowest BMI quintile, there was a significant increase in the highest quintile with regard to an increased number of physician encounters (odds ratio [OR], 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19-1.36), emergency room visits (OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.12-1.29), referrals to specialists (OR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.14-1.31), and medication prescriptions (OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.15-1.32). An increase in the number of laboratory tests was not statistically significant and there was no difference in imaging referrals. Adjustment for various sociodemographic variables and medical conditions did not significantly change the results. Higher BMI is related to increased utilization of healthcare services, even for BMI values in the normal range.

NATIONAL MOVEMENTS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW: RABBI SHLOMO GOREN'S UNDERSTANDING OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

AbstractRabbi Shlomo Goren was one of the leading rabbinic figures in religious Zionist circles. As the first chief Rabbi of the Israeli military, he had a unique opportunity to influence the development of the Israeli army and its policies. He needed to deal with questions that had no precedents in Jewish law. One of his challenges was the part international law played in the formation of a modern army. Rabbi Goren wished to give a halachic perspective to questions of international law, and to do that, he had to translate the language of international law, a field developed in the modern period, to halachic language. This process led him to evaluate moral positions that are part of international law and the ability of halacha to be part of the modern world.

The decline and fall of the Israeli Military Government, 1948–1966: a case of settler-colonial consolidation?

The term settler-colonialism has recently gained traction among scholars of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict who use it to address all forms of Zionist ideology and practices. This article, however, benefits from a conceptual distinction between colonial and settler-colonial Zionist policies when assessing the first two decades of Israel's existence. During this period, Palestinian-Arabs who remained within the state borders were granted nominal citizenship. At the same time, the state also subjected the majority of this population to the Military Government, a form of martial law which suspended many of the rights and legal protections that citizenship afforded. The article considers Israel's various forms of right-granting, social-democratic tendencies, and liberal policies as the post-Nakba continuation of Zionist settler-colonial consolidation. Conversely, Israel's Military Government and other forms of discrimination the Palestinian-Arab citizens endured could be considered colonial institutions that existed in tension with the logic of settler-colonial consolidation. My claim is that when Israel, during its first two decades, slowly dismantled the Military Government, it effectively abandoned a colonial form of interaction with the Palestinian-Arabs and thereby inched toward consolidating the Zionist settler-colonial project. I begin my article with a short discussion on colonialism and settler-colonialism as linked yet distinct historical phenomena. Then I present the colonial features of the Military Government and explain why they inhibited settler-colonial consolidation. After setting the stage, I analyze the Jewish-Israeli discourse formulated against the Military Government and show that in fact Zionists clearly saw a Zionist interest in adopting a more liberal attitude toward the Palestinian-Arab citizens. Finally, I show how this Zionist perception took over Israel's highest decision-making circles leading to the abolishment of the Military Government.

My Promised Land

My Promised Land

Book Reviews

Daniel Bar-Tal and Izhak Schnell, eds., The Impacts of Lasting Occupation: Lessons from Israeli Society Review by Ned LazarusAlan Craig, International Legitimacy and the Politics of Security: The Strategic Deployment of Lawyers in the Israeli Military Review by Ariel L. BendorJoel S. Migdal, Shifting Sands: The United States in the Middle East Review by Aharon KliemanMiriam Fendius Elman, Oded Haklai, and Hendrik Spruyt, eds., Democracy and Conflict Resolution: The Dilemmas of Israel's Peacemaking Review by Jay RothmanEyal Levin, Ethos Clash in Israeli Society Review by Gabriel Ben-DorDanielle Gurevitch, Elana Gomel, and Rani Graff, eds., With Both Feet on the Clouds: Fantasy in Israeli Literature Review by Ari Ofengenden

Obituary: Cyril Jacob Kaplan, MD, MBChB(Cape), MChOrth(Liv), FRCS(Eng), FACS (1917–2012)

Dr. Cyril Kaplan died July 11, 2012 at the age 95 from pneumonia. Born in Durban, South Africa in 1917, while a medical student at the University of Cape Town, Cyril Kaplan joined the Cape Garrison Artillery as a volunteer gunner on the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Following graduation, he enlisted in the South African Medical Corps in 1942, where he was exposed to war injuries and became interested in orthopaedics (Fig. 1). Fig. 1 In 1942, Dr. Kaplan enlisted in the South African Medical Corps, where he was exposed to war injuries and became interested in orthopaedics. Following his discharge from the Army in 1946, Dr. Kaplan worked in Liverpool and Guy’s Hospital in London. With the newly proclaimed State of Israel at war in 1948, Dr. Kaplan joined the military in Israel, leading an orthopaedic department in Haifa. There, he met Sylvia, his future wife. He returned to Durban, South Africa following 14 months of service. In Durban, Dr. Kaplan started an orthopaedic practice and worked in leprosy and tuberculosis hospitals. In 1976, Dr. Kaplan (Fig. 2) accepted an invitation to work in the department of orthopaedic surgery at Montefiore Medical Center, a teaching hospital affiliated with Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. One of his close colleagues at Montefiore Medical Center was Dr. Edward T. Habermann, an Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons member, who died in 2009. Kaplan previously worked with Dr. Haberman at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Fig. 2 Colleagues often consulted with Dr. Kaplan on bone tuberculosis management, a significant pathology among the immigrant population in the Bronx. Dr. Kaplan’s interests included hip and extremity surgery, and colleagues would often consult with him regarding bone tuberculosis management, a significant pathology among the immigrant population in the Bronx. Kaplan remained in New York until 1980, when he returned to South Africa. He practiced there until 1989, then moved back to New York to work at Montefiore Medical Center once again before retiring in 2002. In 2008, Dr. Kaplan published his memoir, In Three Wars: a Personal and Orthopaedic Prospective [1] at the age of 91. His nonmedical interests included European and African history. Dr. Kaplan also collected old maps and Persian miniature paintings, and after retirement, sculpted in bronze. Cyril Kaplan is survived by his wife, three sons, a daughter, and two grandchildren.

Patient flow and medical consequences of the Israeli operation Pillar of Defence: a retrospective study

Background The Israeli military attack Pillar of Defence on the Gaza Strip, occupied Palestinian territory (also referred to as State of Palestine), from Nov 14–21, 2012, killed more than 190 and injured more than 1490 Palestinians. 48 of the people killed were aged 18 years or younger, and 16 were 5 years or younger. 504 of the people injured were aged 18 years or younger, and 195 were 5 years or younger. The rest of the individuals injured or killed were older than 18 years. Six Israelis were killed and 224 were injured. We were working in Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City, during the attacks and assessed the flow of patients through the emergency department during 8 days of bombing by the Israeli military. Methods Data for all patients brought to Al-Shifa Hospital's emergency department were obtained retrospectively from handwritten emergency department protocols, and intensive care unit (ICU) and operating room records. We recorded the total number of hospital admissions, deaths, admissions to the ICU, patients operated on, and patients transferred to Egypt. Data were gathered for admissions, demographics, cause of injury, surgery, ICU admissions, and deaths. Microsoft Excel 2010 was used to analyse the data. The study was approved by the hospital's director and board. Findings 680 of the injured or killed Palestinians were brought to the hospital's emergency department with injuries from bombing by drones, F-16 fighter planes, helicopters, or naval artillery: 501 (74%) male and 179 (26%) female individuals, including 74 (11%) children aged 18 years or younger. 145 (21%) Palestinians were admitted: 44 (30%) during the first 4 days and 101 (70%) during the last 4 days of bombing. 43 (30%) of 145 individuals needed intensive care (32 [74%] adults and 11 [26%] aged ≤5 years). Of the patients admitted to the ICU, 29 (67%) were discharged, 11 (26%) transferred to Egypt, and three (7%) died in the ICU. 62 (9%) of 680 people who were injured died: 50 (81%) were dead on arrival, seven (11%) died in the operating room, three (5%) died in the ICU, and two (3%) after transfer to Egypt. 110 (76%) of 145 patients admitted to Al-Shifa Hospital were operated on, most were taken directly to the operating room after rapid triage and critical stabilisation in the emergency department. 39 (35%) patients had laparotomies, and 42 (38%) orthopaedic, 22 (20%) neurosurgical, eight (7%) vascular, and four (4%) plastic surgical operations; total number of operations was greater than 110 because most patients had more than one trauma. 39 patients were transferred to Egypt. Most of the people with injuries were civilians. Interpretation A large influx of patients who had war trauma was managed in Al-Shifa Hospital despite the erosion of infrastructure, supplies, and general population health from the previous 5-year Israeli siege. Improved, stricter triage reduced patient admission during the 2012 Israeli military attack versus the Israeli military attacks in 2008–09. Additionally, hospital staff were better prepared and trained for the casualties of the 2012 military attack and few deaths occurred in the ICU. A high number of individuals with fatal injuries were dead on arrival, indicating the need for better prehospital triage to safeguard hospital capacity. Funding None.

Determinants of stunting in children younger than 5 years between 2006 and 2010 in the occupied Palestinian territory: a cross-sectional study

<h3>Background</h3> Stunting, according to WHO's definition, in children younger than 5 years in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) increased from 7·2% in 1996 to 10·9% in 2010. However, the rates in the West Bank and Gaza Strip reversed for the first time in 2010, with higher stunting in the West Bank (11·5%) compared with the Gaza Strip (10·4%). The sociodemographic determinants of stunting in the oPt were investigated to understand the possible causes of stunting. <h3>Methods</h3> Data were obtained from the nationally representative 2006 and 2010 Palestinian Family Health Surveys (data for 9613 and 8934 children, respectively, included in the analyses). The design of the surveys was similar for the years, with control for sampling weights in the analyses. Logistic regression analyses were used to assess the odds of stunting separately for the 2006 and 2010 surveys. Independent variables in the analysis were sociodemographic, educational, and economic characteristics of the household, and breastfeeding. Odds ratios were adjusted for these variables. Statistical analyses were done with Stata (version 12.1). <h3>Findings</h3> The prevalence of stunting in children younger than 5 years in 2006 was 8·5% in the West Bank compared with 15·3% in the Gaza Strip (odds ratio 0·56 [95% CI 0·48–0·66]). In 2010, the prevalence of stunting in the West Bank was 11·9% compared with 10·1% in the Gaza Strip (1·27 [1·08–1·49]). In both surveys, household wealth was a significant predictor of stunting: in 2006 and 2010, children in the richest wealth quintile were 30% (0·70 [0·55–90]) and 32% (0·68 [0·52–90]), respectively, less likely to be stunted than were children in the poorest wealth quintile. Similarly in 2010, we noted that children whose fathers were active in the labour force were 18% (0·82 [0·69–0·97]) less likely to be stunted. Maternal education was a significant determinant of stunting in 2006, with every year of a mother's education associated with a 3% reduction (0·97 [0·94–0·99]) in the likelihood of the child being stunted. In 2010, registered refugee children, irrespective of their residence, were 19% less likely to be stunted (0·81 [0·70–0·95]), and children living in rural areas were 22% less likely to be stunted (0·78 [0·63–0·95]). <h3>Interpretation</h3> The results of this study show that there is deterioration in child growth indicators in the oPt, especially in the West Bank between 2006 and 2010, where for the first time stunting is more prevalent than in the Gaza Strip. Household socioeconomic status was an important indicator of child growth in both surveys, and seems to be of greater importance in 2010. Lower odds of stunting in refugee populations might be attributed to the greater availability of services provided by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and might be connected to residence in the Gaza Strip (where about two-thirds of the population are refugees). These results need further analysis because the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is volatile and affected by many independent factors such as closures of areas by the Israeli military and the recent Egyptian efforts to close tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip that have been a lifeline for the Gaza Strip during the siege. <h3>Funding</h3> None.