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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-gaza-barrier-completed-announced">middleeasteye.net</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Gaza Strip: Israel announces completion of barrier around besieged enclave</h1></div>
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<p>Defence ministry says the barrier spans 65km and that 140,000 tonnes of iron and steel were used in its construction</p>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/gantz-gaza-barrier-completed-7dec2021-afp-edit.jpg?itok=L_viXojz" alt="" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="423" height="282">
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<p>Gantz visits the fence separating Gaza from Israel on 7 December
2021, during an event marking the end of construction of a barrier
enclosing the besieged Palestinian enclave (AFP)</p>
<p><span>Published date:</span> 7 December 2021 <br></p>
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<div><p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israel</a>
announced on Tuesday the completion of a massive barrier around the
besieged Gaza Strip, above and below ground, which took three and a half
years to finish.</p>
<p>The project includes a sensor-equipped underground wall, a
counter-measure developed after Hamas used tunnels to blindside Israeli
troops during their 2014 offensive against the enclave.</p>
<p>Israel went public with the project, which also includes an
above-ground fence, a naval barrier, radar systems and command and
control rooms, in 2016.</p>
<p>Israel's defence ministry said the barrier, which includes hundreds
of cameras, radars and other sensors, spans 65km and that 140,000 tonnes
of iron and steel were used in its construction,</p>
<p>"The barrier, which is an innovative and technologically advanced
project, deprives Hamas of one of the capabilities it tried to develop,"
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said, according to a defence
ministry statement.</p>
<p>The ministry said the project's "smart fence" is more than six metres
high and its maritime barrier includes means to detect infiltration by
sea and a remote-controlled weapons system. </p>
<p>The ministry did not disclose the depth of the underground wall.</p>
<p>Israel has maintained a crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip since
2007, which critics say amounts to a collective punishment of the
impoverished enclave's two million residents.</p>
<p>Israel prevents the importing of materials and equipment into Gaza
and has imposed strict restrictions on exports, leading to a state of
"paralysis" in several sectors of Gaza's economy.</p>
<p>Egypt also upholds the siege, restricting movement in and out of Gaza on its border.<br>
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