Israel’s decision to allow women from the Gaza Strip to work in Israel as part of the humanitarian reliefs that are part of the calming understandings is sparking a fierce debate in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas officials are leading the opposition to this move by Israel even though it may contribute to the economy of the Strip.
About 250,000 residents of the Gaza Strip, including a high percentage of women, submitted applications to the Civil Administration to work in Israel.
Israel’s plan is for the Palestinian women to work in the fields of agriculture and care for the elderly and in the field of services in hospitals, schools and municipalities in the Arab sector.
Despite the Israeli approval, at the labor bureaus in the Gaza Strip, no Palestinian woman from the Gaza Strip has so far begun the practical preparations to work in Israel.
About 14,000 workers from the Gaza Strip go to work every day in Israel since the end of the war in Gaza in May 2021.
Israel’s plan is to increase the number of Gazan workers in Israel up to 30,000 if the truce continues.
Sami Al-Amsi, head of the General Union of Palestinian Workers’ Associations, said that the Palestinian Labor Law No. 7 of 2000 allows Palestinian women to work within the territories and in Israel but under the restriction of maintaining their dignity and creating the appropriate atmosphere.
He demanded that Israel change the type of jobs it offers to Palestinian women, such as in the field of agriculture, because this is not currently suitable for a large part of women in the Gaza Strip.
According to Palestinian sources, among the women in the Gaza Strip there is a great desire to work in Israel, but they encounter strong opposition from their husbands and family members because of social needs.
It is very doubtful whether the Hamas government will allow Gazan women to work in Israel because of the religious issue and because of the fear that working in Israel will lead them to moral violations and security pressures from the Israeli Shin Bet so that they will cooperate with it and pass on information about what is happening in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas also fears that Israel will take advantage of the departure of Gazan women to work in Israel for propaganda purposes to show the international community that it is doing everything to ease the lives of the residents in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the Hamas organization remains silent, but not a single Palestinian woman in the Gaza Strip dares to go to the Labor Office to try and get a job in Israel.
Yoni Ben Menachem
Senior Middle East Analyst
