Every time the chant “Free Gaza” echoes at protests or in the media, it is worth asking a simple question: Free Gaza from what?
Because the truth is: Gaza was freed.
In 2005, under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s bold and controversial disengagement plan, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip. It was not a negotiation. It was not a peace deal. It was a unilateral move — painful, polarising, and costly.
More than 8,000 Jewish Israelis were uprooted from 21 communities in Gaza, many forcibly removed by Israeli soldiers. No Israeli civilian or soldier remained. Greenhouses were left behind to support Gaza’s economy. Even synagogues were left standing — though they were soon looted and torched by mobs.
For the first time since 1967, Gaza was Judenrein — Jew-free.
So, what happened after Gaza was “freed”?
Democracy Dies in Terror
In 2006, the Palestinian people in Gaza participated in elections and chose Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist organisation, to lead them. One year later, Hamas staged a violent coup, brutally expelling Fatah forces in a bloody purge. Rival Palestinians were thrown from rooftops, dragged through the streets, and executed in front of their families. Since then, Gaza has not held another election.
Hamas transformed Gaza from a nascent self-governing territory into a military fortress. It diverted billions in international aid away from schools, hospitals, and infrastructure to instead build terror tunnels, acquire rockets, and manufacture propaganda.
Gaza could have become the Singapore of the Middle East. Instead, it became a launching pad for jihad.
The Reality Behind the “Blockade”
Critics often cite the Israeli “blockade” as the source of Gaza’s suffering. But that too is grossly misunderstood. The restrictions on Gaza’s borders were not in place until after Hamas took power and began launching rockets into Israeli civilian areas.
Moreover, the blockade is not just Israeli—it is jointly enforced with Egypt, which also borders Gaza and seeks to prevent the smuggling of weapons and fighters affiliated with Hamas’s ideological twin, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Let’s be clear: Israel still provides Gaza with electricity, water, fuel, and humanitarian aid, even as it is repeatedly attacked from the very territory it helps sustain. During the ongoing conflict, Israel has facilitated the entry of tens of thousands of aid trucks — even as Hamas loots supplies and fires rockets from beside hospitals and aid convoys.
If Gaza is an “open-air prison”, it is a prison whose wardens are Hamas, and whose jailers were democratically elected by its own people.
When “Free Gaza” Means “Blame Israel”
The slogan “Free Gaza” today functions not as a humanitarian call, but as a weaponised lie. It seeks to place the blame for Gaza’s misery solely on Israel while absolving Hamas of all responsibility — as if terror tunnels dug under hospitals, missiles fired from schoolyards, and children used as human shields were Israel’s fault.
Worse still, many who chant “Free Gaza” implicitly or explicitly endorse Hamas’s October 7th massacre. They excuse the rape, torture, and slaughter of Israeli civilians as a form of “resistance.” This is not activism. It is barbarism.
To be clear: Gaza does deserve to be free — free from corruption, repression, and theocracy. But that means freedom from Hamas, not freedom from Israel’s right to self-defence.
A Path Not Taken
Imagine, just for a moment, what might have been. If Gaza had chosen peace instead of Hamas. If it had invested in education instead of indoctrination. If it had built a future instead of bombs.
Israel’s 2005 disengagement was a test. It was a chance to show the world what Palestinian self-rule could look like. Instead, it revealed exactly why Israel cannot afford to make the same mistake in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) — a territory ten times larger and far closer to Israel’s population centres.
Calls to “Free Gaza” that ignore this history are not only dishonest; they are dangerous. They embolden Hamas. They reward terrorism. And they push any hope of peace further out of reach.
If the world truly wants to free Gaza, it should start by holding Hamas accountable — and remembering that Israel already tried.
