Scarce 2023-24 Israel-Hamas Gaza war interrupted Belgian mail + postal markings

Description: 2023-2024 Israel-Hamas Gaza war interrupted mail: front of undated 15 Nov 2023 dispatched commercial cover sent from BRUSSELS Belgium to JERUSALEM, franked for base postage airmail but stamps left uncancelled by the Belgian post office; the cover never arrived and apparently was kept at the sorting office until March 2024 due to dangerous flying conditions to Israel owing to rocket fire from Gaza during the present war, when it was returned to the sender - affixed with barcoded "return to sender" label & tied by French & Flemish instructional handstamp "Return to Sender | Interrupted Transmission". The sender retained the uncancelled postage stamps for subsequent use (the original dispatch date is as per the sender's records) and sent this cataloguer the relevant front of the original envelope (the back was blank); received within a mail dispatch from the sender which arrived on 30 April. Very little documented postal history exists for the present Israel-Hamas Gaza war: the Belgian postal service did not formally announce a postal suspension with Israel and evidently accepted mail for transmission - but withheld it until it could (or definitively could not) be sent; this cataloguer has received ordinary "delayed mail" from Belgium also posted in November 2023 but received on 30 April 2024 without being returned to the sender. In Israel the news reported that by February 2024 there were only 3 air carriers servicing the country - a testament to the sheer cutback in air service with the country. Evidently a postal suspendion did enter effect as the sender of this cover sent this cataloguer a registered letter on 22 January 2024 which was subsequently held up at the sorting office until 5 March, when it was released and dispatched abroad (the sender was informed by email that the Belgian postal service would resume on airmail to Israel on 23 March 2024, though in reality this was much earlier). Much mail to and from Israel has been heavily delayed by the present war but very little bears postal markings attesting to this - here a rare instance of interrupted mail from this war with an instructional marking. --- Most of our merchandise ships out from Israel | orders are combined | additional items are charged 75c: DOMESTIC services available are Registered mail (default) and courier mail. Please contact us if you desire courier mail. BUYERS IN ISRAEL: eBay does not recognize Israel as being a "domestic" mailing destination - please contact us to be invoiced and charged $5 for registered mail. --- OVERSEAS services available are Priority ECO Post registered airmail (default - $15 flat fee) and express EMS mail (3-day / 5-day to-door delivery - $40 flat fee). These options can be selected on check-out. We recognize that the shipping overseas is expensive - only ECO Post shows tracking up to delivery; for less expensive purchases on the understanding of the customer that tracking is not available we can user $5 standard registered mail overseas - please contact us so we can invoice you at this rate. --- Prospective buyers in countries without postal relations with Israel can receive orders via a third country. Please contact us for this option. --- To see higher end specialized philatelic items + materials from countries which cannot be displayed on ebay, add d o t com to our our handle name

Price: 149 USD

Location: Jerusalem Israel

End Time: 2024-12-10T09:03:09.000Z

Shipping Cost: 12 USD