The Israeli army is expelling Gazan residents working inside Israeli cities and denying them access across the Erez/Beit Hanoun crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. In justification of its measures, Israel is invoking the tense security and military situations with the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip. 

In the wake of the Elad deadly attack in early May, a large number of Gazan workers were expelled from their work sites in Israel. 

On May 5, two Palestinians killed three Israelis and wounded several others using an ax in an attack inside a park in the town of Elad east of Tel Aviv. Israel accused Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, of inciting this type of operation.

The issue of Gazans working inside Israel is a sensitive one that has always been associated with the developments in the current security situation between Gaza and Israel. After the last war on the Gaza Strip in May 2021, Israel allowed a limited number of Gaza residents to work inside Israel in a move it said aimed to improve Palestinians’ livelihood and reduce tensions by easing economic restrictions on Gaza. The move, which included the issuance of 3,000 additional working permits, came as part of the understandings brokered by international mediation between the two sides.