Under cover of political and other events, without any fanfare or official announcements, Israel has coordinated with Hamas to increase the number of entry permits granted to Palestinians in Gaza. The additional 2,000 permits appear to be meant for Palestinian laborers, under the guise of “traders.”

This is the first time since Hamas mounted a military coup in June 2007 and took control of Gaza that Israel has taken such a significant step in terms of improving the Gaza economy. While the numbers are still relatively small and will not make a drastic economic change to the enclave’s 2 million residents, it’s a start.

Since then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to impose a siege on the Gaza Strip 12 years ago, entry permits are limited to a few specific groups: residents requiring life-saving medical treatment in Israeli or West Bank hospitals; employees of international aid organizations; and merchants given a limited permit for a day or two to conduct meetings with Israeli businesspeople or deal with customs duties and other matters related to imports arriving through the Israeli port of Ashdod.

The 2,000 additional permits (known in Gaza as “tasrih”), and another few thousand that Israel will hand out in the coming months as part of a pilot program being tested by security authorities, were a closely guarded secret. They would not have come to light were it not for an interview earlier this month by the head of the Gaza Chamber of Commerce, Maher Tabaa, with the Saudi al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper. According to Tabaa, the number of permit holders grew 66%, from 3,000 to 5,000, and no less important, the age of eligibility was lowered from 30 to 25.