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Israel has announced it will ease the land blockade of the Gaza Strip and allow more civilian goods to enter the Palestinian territory. It comes amid growing international pressure to end the embargo. An Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla attempting to break the naval blockade of Gaza last month was widely condemned. Israel and Egypt tightened the blockade after the Islamist Hamas movement took control of Gaza in 2007. Marco Werman talks with the BBC’s John Donnison who is in Gaza.

• BBC coverage
• Gaza under blockade

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MARCO WERMAN:  I’m Marco Werman.  This is The World.  Israel will ease its blockade of the Gaza strip.  The announcement comes after Israel was widely condemned for its raid on ships carrying aid to Gaza.  Nine activists died in that raid.  The Israeli blockade of Gaza has been in place since 2007.  The Israelis say they want to keep Hamas from acquiring weapons.  But everything from food items to construction materials is on the banned list.  How that list will be changed is not clear, says the BBC’s Jon Donnison in Gaza.

JON DONNISON:  We had a very, very brief statement from the Israeli government this morning saying they were prepared to liberalize the system by which civilian goods enter Gaza and also expand the inflow of materials for civilian projects that are under international supervisor.  Now both of those statements are pretty non-specific and pretty vague.  So certainly, the overwhelming feeling here in Gaza amongst ordinary people, and indeed amongst the U.N. who have a big operation here in Gaza is that, look, let’s wait and see a few months down the line whether there really has been any change and whether people’s lives have improved.

WERMAN: And did the Israelis make any suggestion as to whether this change means a changed list of goods that are allowed in, or just an overall relaxation of the blockade?

DONNISON: Well what they’ve been talking about is moving away from a list of goods that are allowed in, to having a list of things that aren’t allowed in.  What they’re saying is that goods such as foods, school books, things that have been prohibited in the last few years, will now be allowed in.  But really, there’s a huge range.  We could have just a few extra goods.  People have been talking about mayonnaise, tomato ketchup being allowed in.  Well that’s not really going to change the lives of too many people in Gaza.  What people need in particular here, we don’t often talk about it, but the private industry has been devastated by the blockade in Gaza.  So that’s people bringing in materials to produce goods.  There used to be a lot of furniture produced in Gaza, a lot floor tiles.  Now those businesses have just gone under because they’ve not had the materials coming in to be able to continue.  I think it’s going to be very interesting to see in the coming weeks and months, and this isn’t going to be an immediate thing, just how significant a change this makes.

WERMAN: Okay, so a few details about the change, but the fact that Israel has deliberated for a couple of days over this, presumably prompted by the controversial flotilla episode two weeks ago.  Observers must feel that there is some significance in this announcement.

DONNISON: Oh absolutely.  And it definitely comes after intense pressure on Israel.  When you have had people as high up as the President of the U.S. saying that the blockade is unacceptable and unsustainable then that, as Israel’s strongest ally, really is putting the pressure on them.  And as to the long debate that was had over the past few days within the Israeli cabinet, before this announcement was made, I think that reflects the fact that there have been real divisions within Israeli politics, Israeli society over whether this is the best thing to do.  Many people in Israel and within the Israeli government on the right, believe that they need to keep the pressure up on Hamas and Hamas will undoubtedly see this as some sort of victory that they’ve managed to get the blockade relaxed, if that is what’s going to happen.

WERMAN: And yet Hamas has dismissed the Israeli announcement.  Won’t this help the people of Gaza?

DONNISON: Well, we’re going to have to wait and see.  Hamas, what they’ve said is they want the blocked lifted completely.  They see this as basically a political stunt, a ploy, to alleviate some of the pressure.  What the U.N. is saying here in Gaza, as well as Hamas actually, is that the blockade is not just about goods, it’s also about freedom of movement.  We spoke to a very senior Hamas official today in Gaza who said it’s all very well, but you’re improving conditions in what is, in effect, a prison.  It is very, very difficult to leave Gaza, which is a very small area.  So until those changes, the view is here that we are going to continue to see flotillas of ships coming to Gaza to try and break what they continue to see as a blockade on this territory.

WERMAN: The BBC’s Jon Donnison in Gaza.  I appreciate your time Jon, thank you.

DONNISON: Pleasure.

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