Nahal Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel, home to about 400 people, is so close to the Gaza Strip that the nearest Palestinian house in Sajaiya is just 600 metres away. Despite the hi-tech fences and buffer zone separating them, neighbours can see each other hanging out their washing.
Until the late 1980s, older members of Nahal Oz used to regularly drive a few kilometres west, to shop in Gaza City’s markets, eat the enclave’s famous seafood, or go for a walk on the Mediterranean coastline. Many still have friends in Gaza. Despite the Israeli blockade imposed in 2007, after the militant group Hamas seized control of the
