gaza

on September 19, [Israeli] sanctions on Gaza were tightened, and it was decided to "reduce the amount of megawattage provide(d) to the Strip..." There was more as well - cutbacks in fuel, food, other essentials and even tighter border crossing restrictions.

Even before the latest crisis, Gaza was devastated. Its industrial production was down 90%, and its agricultural output was half its pre-2007 level. In addition, nearly all construction stopped, unemployment and poverty topped 80%, and by now it may be 90%. After September 19, it got worse when shops began running out of everything. Israel allows in only nine basic materials, their availability is spotty, and some essentials are banned, like certain medicines, and others restricted like fruit, milk and other dairy products. Before June 2007, 9000 commodities could be imported. Today, it's down to 20, people don't get enough food...

Palestinians are suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Food imports cover only 41% of demand. 80% of Gazans receive food aid and 80% live below the poverty line.

People who are seriously ill are being prevented from accessing essential medical treatment outside Gaza. Over 40 Gazans have died as a result of being denied medical treatment by the Israeli authorities and 20% of essential drugs and 31% of essential medical supplies are no longer available inside Gaza.
Israel is cutting fuel and electricity supplies, affecting essential health and water facilities. 210,000 people are able to access drinking water for only 1-2 hours a day.

'Why do so many of the children have distended bellies?'

'Because they are desperately hungry. Before this siege of Sharon's, the Palestinian family was surviving, even doing OK. It's my job to talk to people and find out who is suffering, and I must be frank with you: starvation is everywhere. Families almost never see meat; if they are lucky, they will get one chicken every fortnight. They don't know fruit, and this is a land of fruit. The children get tea and sugar, and little else. Almost all of them are suffering nutritional aneamia. Most of the tap water is controled by the settlers and what comes to us is undrinkable.'

Gaza constitutes a time bomb. Some 1.4 million people, mostly children, are piled up in one of the most densely populated regions of the world, with no freedom of movement, no place to run, and no space to hide. Virtually without external access since June, Gaza is experiencing a rise in poverty, unemployment, penury, and despair...

Since the Israeli operation "Summer Rain" began end-June in response to the kidnapping of an Israeli Defense Forces soldier, one Israeli soldier has been killed. During the same period, 235 Palestinians have been killed, including 46 children...

Access by air, sea, and land has been virtually cut off for Gaza. The movements of goods and peoples have practically ceased. Supplies of electricity and water, interrupted by Israeli Defense Forces attacks on electric power stations, is irregular and insignificant. Civilian infrastructures have been affected. Gaza today remains dependent on outside sources for its food and commercial supplies. Hygienic conditions are deteriorating, while access to potable water is inadequate. With a Palestinian economy in continuous freefall, we must expect a more severe deterioration in sanitary conditions.

With around 80 per cent of Gazans now surviving on less than £1 a day, families are living on food parcels from the UN. They cannot even fish to supplement their diets because Israeli gunboats fire on any vessels more than a mile offshore. Eighty five per cent of manufacturing businesses are now closed, according to the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

This blockade has forced the UN to suspend over £45 million worth of construction projects for homes, schools and sewage treatment in Gaza because cement and other building supplies have run out and Israel blocks further supplies. The 121,000 people previously employed on these UN projects have been forced to join the 70 per cent of Gazans already unemployed.

Borders are closed even to imports of paper for textbooks for UN schools in Gaza, and residents are effectively imprisoned.

In the week of January 17 - 23 (2008) alone, Israeli attacks on Gaza:
- killed 19 Palestinians along with three others from previous IDF-inflicted wounds;
- extra-judicially executed seven of the victims, including two women;
- wounded 71 Palestinians, including 24 children and three women;
- made 33 IDF incursions in the West Bank and five in Gaza;
- arrested 58 Palestinian civilians, including seven children, in the West Bank, and 32 in Gaza, including 3 children;
- destroyed five homes and razed agricultural land in Jabalya in northern Gaza;
- allowed further settler attacks against civilians and property in Hebron.