After more than a year of delay, the Israeli government agreed to re-examine a project proposed by the Minister of Communications and Intelligence, Israel Katz, to build an island in the Mediterranean Sea opposite to the Gaza Strip, and to establish a seaport and airport in an attempt to break the siege and solve the severe humanitarian crisis faced by the Palestinian people there. The decision came in the wake of a warning issued to the government by the Israeli Army Chief of Staff General Gadi Eizenkot, during a meeting on Sunday, in which he said that there was a strong possibility of a violent explosion in the Gaza Strip during the current year, due to the deteriorating humanitarian situation. The construction of the artificial island at the heart of the sea is the best solution to the Gaza crisis, Katz said. He stressed that Israel was primarily concerned that the lifting of the blockade would lead to the entry of quantities of weapons and terrorists into the Strip, but added that imposing control on all shipments entering and exiting the city could resolve this issue. Israel must insist on the continuous presence of foreign observers with permanent representatives from Israel and Egypt, the two states bordering Gaza and hence concerned with the defense of their security, according to the Israeli minister of communications. Katz stressed that his project would need years of planning and action, noting that during this period, Hamas must release the dead and living Israeli detainees. “Israel has to take concrete steps to prevent the collapse of the Strip,” Eizenkot said, adding that he presented the government with possible scenarios in the wake of the deteriorating situation in Gaza.