Israel calculated Palestinian calories for Gaza blockade

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JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel calculated the number of calories Palestinians would need to avoid malnutrition under its blockade of the Gaza Strip, according to a study which the Supreme Court forced the government to release.

"It was part of a research paper that came up in two discussions and that we never made use of," Israeli Defense Ministry official Guy Inbar said on Wednesday after the document was published by Gisha, an Israeli human rights group that petitioned to receive it.

Release of the document, presented in January 2008, shed new light on the thinking that helped to shape the blockade that Israel tightened in 2007 after the Gaza Strip was seized by Hamas.

Palestinians described the restrictions, which drew international criticism and were eased in 2010, as collective punishment stifling their economy. more

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