Hundreds of merchants cross Gaza border every day

From the news articles about Gaza, one would think that Israel only allows medical patients, foreign dignitaries, NGOs and journalists into and out of Gaza.

But COGAT's statistics for the last several months show that the largest category of people crossing the Gaza border are actually the people we hear about least - merchants.

On Wednesday, 966 merchants crossed the border - more than all other categories combined.

That's the way it was all week, with 1,253 merchants crossing on Monday. 

For a territory under "siege," there sure is a lot of business going on.

Other statistics on COGAT's new Facebook page:

• 115,000 Gazans crossed Erez for medical treatment in Israel and abroad in 2014
• Nearly 900 tons of goods were exported from Gaza in 2014
• 100 mobile homes were donated by Oman to Gaza and COGAT is coordinating their entry

On that last point, the homes are too large to take up one lane of the road leading to Gaza, he effectively close the road. COGAT must coordinate with the police to allow them to be transported at night.

You won't read this in the media.