You cannot declare war on a territory you occupy and control. It is as if the United States declared war on Washington DC or any of their numerous prisons.
I quote from MSNBC "Despite pleas from the United Nations and human rights groups, Israel has maintained a land, air and sea blockade on Gaza since 2007 that has had a devastating effect on Palestinian civilians."
How do you rule if you control nothing? all the utilities are controlled by Israel. Travel, nope, controlled by Israel. Exports, nope, controlled by Israel. What are they ruling?
Israel created Hamas to weaken the Palestinian Authority - which itself is severely corrupt and complacent. People are seeking a better life. How else do you think Trump got elected? was he the better candidate? (and yes, I did just conflate Trump and Hamas)
"only" is used here to diminish the suffering of the Gazan people. Israel has had Gaza under a brutal blockade, across air, land and sea. They control everything that enters or leaves, and infamously were so cruel they counted the calories entering Gaza [0] [1]. Israel even claims control of the air over Gaza, and prevents civilians from collecting rainwater [2] [3] [4].
Israel has been enforcing collective punishment for decades - they want that land, and they want it only for themselves.
[0] https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-counted-calorie-require...
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/world/middleeast/israel-c...
[2] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/11/the-occu...
[3] https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2016-06-22/ty-article/.premi...
[4] https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/3/10/debunking-some-...
Whataboutism aside, it's well known that US-backed Israel is indeed largely in control of what Egypt does and does not do in regard to Gaza.
If you said the only way to cross the Atlantic was by boat and I said you could fly that's not whataboutism
> it's well known that US-backed Israel is indeed largely in control of what Egypt does
No it's not. You can't just make stuff up
Egypt is not free, for example, to allow aid in that Israel has not specifically approved.
Yes it is. You can't just make stuff up and lie to people.
What makes you think that's okay? Because you feel it's 'for the right cause?
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/egypts-sisi-accuse...
Aside from Israeli quotes, the above article includes Sisi's comments on the process.
If you have some credible source saying Egypt can get goods into Gaza without Israeli approval, I'd love to see it.
And then the same vagueness is the same tactics used by the most well funded, the most sophisticated propaganda machine ever - to make people think being against the actions of their current Israeli government, e.g. war crimes they're committing and have been committing, is anti-Semitism.