IAN BIRRELL: Inside the blighted enclave of the Gaza Strip where Hamas rules with an iron fist

As I entered the Erez crossing from Israel to the Gaza Strip, my Israeli-Arab friend asked me to bring him some fish and chips on my return a few days later.

“They’re the best you’ll ever have,” he told me with a smile.

That was a big claim to make of a Brit – but he was right. The recommended vendor was easy to find, with a blue and white boat, dolphins painted on the side, coming out of his shop front. And the stack of fries, topped with paper-wrapped fried fish fingers, were excellent.

Yet little else is so pleasant about this wretched, Mediterranean enclave, just 25 miles long and seven miles wide at its highest point, which is home to more than two million people.

It is one of the most depressing places I have ever visited.

The huge airport-like terminal controlled by the Israeli military at Erez was almost deserted when I last entered five years ago, about to close for a long weekend break.

I saw the only other passenger, an elderly woman laden with bulging bags, struggling from a one-person spinner. Then I hired a motorcyclist to speed me through a long caged passage through the buffer zone into Palestinian territory.

Israel took the Strip from Egypt in the 1967 war, but unilaterally withdrew all its troops and settlers in 2005 in an effort to improve security. When Hamas won a shock election victory the following year, it forced its rivals to take total control of the ground.

This caused restrictions on the movement of goods and people from Egypt and Israel, leaving residents trapped under the hardline group known for repression and violence against its own people, as well as the use of despicable terror against enemies.

Everywhere in Gaza there is a veneer of normalcy as people try to go about their lives in bustling shops, malls, cafes and restaurants.

It feels a lot like other less prosperous parts of the Middle East, with its weathered buildings, colorful murals, crowded streets, frolicking friendly children – especially when the familiar sound of the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer. .

I’ve had good coffee in smart cafes filled with young people on phones and computers, while Gaza’s restaurants adjust to the many problems in a culture proud of its cuisine.

However, this illusion of normalcy began to clear after I arrived at my seaside hotel and admired the view of the sandy beach and fishing boats on the sparkling waters. Don’t go swimming, a local reporter warned, they dump all their sewage there.

I later learned that due to chronic power shortages and crumbling infrastructure, enough raw sewage to fill 40 Olympic swimming pools was being dumped into that magnificent sea every day (although there have since been efforts to fix this system). .

Gaza has constant power outages, abysmal public services, dirty water and an overwhelming lack of jobs.

Most of its power comes from Israel – but even small contributions from Gaza’s sole power plant, like all private generators, rely on imported oil.

Most struggling health services depend on the United Nations and charities. Patients who need more serious treatment require permission from Palestinian and Israeli officials to travel outside the Strip, which is surrounded by 20-meter fences, motion sensors, radar and cameras.

But the most critical absence here is hope. It is one of the most densely populated countries in the world and has one of the youngest populations – yet more than two-thirds of young adults are unemployed, while eight in ten residents rely on external assistance.

Although tens of thousands of Palestinians once left Gaza to work in Israel, the border was closed after Hamas took over, so an entire generation has grown up never able to leave the Strip and never meet an Israeli.

All this makes fertile ground for Hamas to find ‘martyrs’ for its crooked cause, especially amid the trauma of living under frequent attacks and bombings.

The beach offers little escape from the sweltering heat and pessimism.

However, fishing is also caught up in the conflict – catching is restricted by Israeli vessels that fire on crews or confiscate boats if they breach the established 15-mile offshore limit.

Near the port in Gaza City, I came across a graveyard of abandoned fishing boats. The 15-year economic blockade prevents their owners from buying parts for repairs.

It also limits fuel and truck supplies, so you see hordes of donkeys zipping through chaotic traffic as they clean up trash, haul goods around town, or dispose of the last scraps of rockets for rebuilding.

Hamas developed an extensive network of tunnels to smuggle goods, but these are targeted by Israel because they are also used for rockets and weapons.

No wonder past polls have found that half of Gazans want to leave the devastated country – and no wonder it was the source of the latest outburst of hatred to tarnish the troubled region.