The occupation tightens its siege on Gaza Strip and the Palestinians demand international intervention 

For the twelfth day, the Israeli occupation is tightening its siege on Gaza Strip, preventing the movement of Palestinians and the transport of goods, food and fuel to and from the Strip, by closing the Beit Hanoun and Karam Abu Salem crossings, which exacerbates the suffering of the people of the Gaza Strip, whose appeals have not found a response from the international community which keeps silent regarding the crimes and practices of the occupation, without doing anything to stop them.

The humanitarian conditions of more than two million Palestinians are getting worse day by day as a result of the Israeli siege that has been ongoing for 17 years. The siege has had catastrophic repercussions on all sectors, especially health, as it has caused severe shortage of medicines and medical equipment, which has led hundreds of people to lose their lives due to their inability to travel outside Gaza Strip. Gaza hospitals have also been unable to provide necessary treatment despite the fact that the medical staff in the Gaza Strip hospitals constantly organize activities demanding the lifting of the siege and allowing the flow of medicines and medical supplies.

In a statement to a SANA News Agency repoter, the head of the Network of Non-Governmental Organizations in Gaza Mohsen Abu Ramadan affirmed that the occupation’s tightening noose on the Strip has deprived about 9,000 cancer patients from receiving treatment, especially since half of the basic types of medicines that are included in chemotherapy protocols for patients are no longer available in hospitals. In addition, the lives of 1,100 patients with kidney failure have become threatened as a result of the severe shortage of medical consumables, such as dialysis filters and blood transfusion tubes, as what is available in dialysis sections is about to run out.

For his part, the head of the International Commission for Supporting the Rights of the Palestinian People Salah Abd Al Atti explained that death threatens a large number of patients with cancerous tumors as a result of the occupation’s continuity of preventing them from leaving Gaza Strip for many months to receive treatment in hospitals in the West Bank. In addition, hundreds of people continue to suffer from other diseases, but the occupation prevents them from departure to receive treatment abroad.

Abdul Al-Atti stressed that the international community should take effective steps with the aim of forcing the Israeli occupation to end the policy of collective punishment in Gaza Strip, ensuring Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law and human rights principles and lifting the restrictions Israel imposes on the freedom of movement of individuals and goods.

In turn, human rights researcher Hussein Hammad pointed out that the occupation’s closure of the Beit Hanoun crossings for the twelfth day and Karam Abu Salem crossings for the fifth day led to the cessation of the activities of most of the commercial, industrial and agricultural sectors, to a severe shortage in Palestinian life necessities and led thousands of workers to lose their source of livelihood. He indicated that the sector suffered during the last two weeks major losses, in addition to the accumulated losses in exports and imports over the years of the blockade.

Hammad pointed out that the occupation prevents the entry of more than 1,200 raw materials into the Gaza Strip, and that its repeated attacks have caused more than 2,500 facilities and factories that were completely or partially destroyed as a result of the occupation’s attacks, to stop, besides the destruction of the infrastructure, including the water and electricity networks.

He warned that the continued closure of the crossings will lead new facilities to stop, which exacerbates the suffering and increases unemployment rate. Hammad called for urgent international intervention to reopen the crossings and ensure the return of the movement of goods, raw materials, and fuel to and from Gaza Strip.

Leen Al Salman