Finance and economicsWar by other meansIn its fight against Hamas, Israel uses economic weapons as well as military ones.In less than a fortnight, some 3,500 Gazans have been killed, 12,000 injured and more than a million displaced―on whose behalf America and the UN are attempting to open a passage into Egypt.Entire neighbourhoods in the strip have been bombed to dust.Cut off from food, water and medical supplies, the UN warned on October 16th that Gaza’s 2.3m people were on “the verge of an abyss”.Since Israel’s strikes began, war has drained nearly every source of economic life from the territory.For the better part of two decades, Gaza has relied on support from international donors for its financial survival.On October 18th Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said that his country would allow a modest amount of food and medicine across Egypt’s border into the territory, which would be the first supplies let in since Hamas launched its brutal attack against Israel on October 7th.Israel’s allies, including America, are pushing for more to be admitted.Yet at the same time, Israel wants to suffocate Hamas by any means possible, which requires using economic as well as military weapons.
