A functioning airport and seaport are the dream of every Palestinian living in the Gaza Strip. Calls for their construction in Gaza date to the cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. At the time, the leaders of Hamas made their agreement to a cease-fire conditional on a commitment by Israel and Egypt (which hosted the talks) to allow the construction of an airport and seaport and an end to the closure now imposed on Gaza.

The original demand was rejected, but in all talks with the sponsors of the agreement or donors who help rebuild the Gaza Strip — Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates — the Hamas leadership demands repeatedly that these countries pressure Israel to allow Gaza to build an airport and a seaport.

The construction of a seaport and airport in Gaza would require the Palestinians to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in addition to having to deal with security issues. Hamas leaders believe that those donor countries, which occasionally provide humanitarian and financial aid to the Gaza Strip, would agree to fund these dream projects. At the same time, the leaders are also convinced that such projects would ease the suffering of the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza once and for all, and also strengthen the position of the Hamas regime.

In an interview with the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds in October, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said that if Hamas stops arming itself, Israel would allow the creation of an airport and seaport in Gaza. For its part, Hamas is unwilling to consider stopping the influx of weapons into Gaza or the disarming of the Hamas army and the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.