The grim reality in Gaza Mohammed Omer
Published 10 December 2007
Mohammed Omer reports on shortages in Gaza from crucial medical supplies
through children's winter clothing to fuel
Traffic in the Gaza Strip slowed to a trickle last week, and this week
medical centres have scaled back treatment in the medicines and
sustenance-destitute Strip.
"Israels decision is a death penalty: our reserve of fuel is almost zero and
it may very likely run out by the end of today," said Khaled Radi, Ministry of
Health spokesman for the dismissed Hamas government.
Radi spoke in reference to the 30 November Israeli Supreme Court decision to
allow further fuel cutbacks, severe reductions which are crippling Gazas
residents in all aspects of life. Prior to that ruling, as early as October
Israel decided to begin limiting fuel, with Gaza soon after enduring serious
cuts of over 50% of fuel needs, a dire statistic confirmed by the UN body OCHA.
At the Nahal Oz crossing, through which all fuel enters Gaza, the Palestinian
petrol authority reported that Israel has delivered around only 190,000 litres
of diesel a day since late October, falling short of the 350,000 litres needed
by the Gaza Strip. This number plummeted on 29 November, with Israel delivering
a scanty 60,000 litres, only marginally improving three days later, 2 December,
with a delivery of 90,000 litres.
This weeks increased cutbacks resulted in a several day closure of Gazas
petrol stations, owners striking in protest to the pittance of fuel allowed
injust one quarter of that normally received.
Gazas Association for Fuel Station Owners commented: "Petrol firms
considered the amount negligible and so, in protest over the Israeli blockade,
refused to accept the paltry offering which does not come close to meeting the
essential needs of Gazas civilians."
A Gaza taxi driver related his concern: "Cutting off fuel means cutting off our
lives. We use it for everything, in the place of wood or coal. Its tragic not
only that Israel is imposing this siege on Gaza, but also that some
Palestinians are supporting this cruel embargo, with the naïve idea of causing
the people turn against Hamas in Gaza."
Shortages of fuel have greatly affected the public transportation system,
leaving students from universities in Gaza City delayed for hours standing in
wait for transportation back to Khan Younies and Rafah in the south.
Trickle Effect
The fuel cuts in turn impede water access: with diesel-run pumps unable to
function, leaving over 77,000 without fresh drinking water, according to Gazas
water utility. Oxfam International has warned that soon 225,000 Gazans could
suffer from inadequate water supplies, raising concerns for public health.
Ambulances and clinics suffer too, a fact reiterated by Khaled Radi, who
related how fuel shortages have already brought some ambulances to a
standstill: "This has affected the mobility of ambulances which are especially
vital during on-going Israeli air strikes such as that of this morning."
He added that shortages further threatened to close essential clinics, which
rely on back-up generators during the frequent electricity shortages in the
Strip. Two first aid health centres have already been forced to suspend
treatment during electricity cuts. Those that remain open suffer from want of
medical supplies, with 91 of 416 essential medicines depleted, according to the
WHO.
Even basic things are scarce. Residents are hard-pressed to find a piece of
glass to repair a broken window, imperative in Decembers cold weather,
particularly in a time when electricity and gas are scarce-to-absent.
Eyad Yousef, a 31-year-old Palestinian teacher, has been waiting for cement,
unavailable for the last many months, to enter Gaza. Concurrently, prices of
building materials have skyrocketed, more than tripled in the worst cases.
Yousef waits for any sort of building material, but he knows that will not find
anything, as he has looked all over the picked-clean area. "I have a floor of
my home to finish, but cant do so yet as no sort of building materials are
available in Gaza," he said. "I'm using pieces of nylon to cover my windows at
home, but I cant go on like this for long," he added, saying he hopes that the
international community will put pressure on Israel to open borders and let
vital products into Gaza.
Death Penalty
Yousef, at least, is luckier than the newly dead: since last month at least
31 medical patients have died in Gaza, a result of Israels lockdown on borders
and preventing of medical access to Israeli, Egyptian and Jordanian hospitals,
as well as West Bank hospitals.
Since Hamas took over power in June, this subsequent Israeli lockdown has made
it virtually impossible for Palestinians to get out of Gaza. The situation then
deteriorated with the closing of Karni crossing, Gazas only commercial
crossing, only opened for the most basic food essentials. Coupled with Israels
ground and air attacks, the situation for Palestinians worsened yet further
still when Israel last October announced Gaza as a "hostile entity", further
allowing Israel to justify its closed-borders policy to the international
arena.
In the densely-populated region starved of medical supplies, and now facing the
shutdown of clinics, Gazan citizens have been given a death sentence with
Israels control over borders. Yahya Al Jamal 53, one case among hundreds of
people, has cancer and is in serious need of medical care at well-equipped
hospitals. For more than two months now he has been refused entry to Israel for
treatment. His agonized father reported that his son will die in the coming
days if he does not get the medication he needs, an outcome of Israels mass
denial of the luxury of critical healthcare.
Insult upon injuries, cement already scarce for building is no longer
available even for graves of the many recently dead.
Empty Stocks
Aid agencies like the World Food Program (WFP) reporting that food imports
are only enough to meet 41 per cent of demand in the Gaza Strip.
As winter progresses, resilient citizens desperately seek to survive. In
Rafahs Saturday market, Umm Mohammed Zourub scours the stalls yet again: "I've
been looking for new winter clothes for my children, but I haven't been able to
find any because no materials are coming into Gaza with the closed borders,"
the 43 year old mother lamented.
Indeed, the cold weather has fallen quickly on an internationally-isolated
and starved population. From the intense heat of summer months, where water was
scarce and air conditioning a fantasy, Gazans now experience the bitter cold in
the same homes unprepared for extremes, and the bitter realization that, once
again, they have been left to the whims of imprisonment, Israeli air and ground
attacks, and a staggering invisibility in the international realm.
http://www.newstatesman.com/print/200712100003#
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