Eight years ago, the United Nations warned that the Gaza Strip would not be a “living place” by 2020, urging Israel to lift a year-long embargo against the Palestinian coast and calling for a concerted and “herculean” effort. ”To fundamentally improve services there.
Israel and Egypt have continued to have hard air, land and sea, however, largely separating nearly two million inhabitants from the land from the rest of the world since 2007.
By 2020, the conditions were marked by a shortage of water and medicine as well as a severe power crisis, with residents of the area receiving just up to six hours of electricity per day.
The coronavirus – which was swept around the world this year, infected tens of millions and killed lives in almost every country – has wiped out Gaza ‘s shoes.
‘He can bear no more’
“People in Gaza had enough in their lives, moving from one crisis to another without interruption,” said Mahmoud Abu Samaan, 34, a Hamas communications ministry employee.
“You can’t make people sit at home without electricity, food or money. This is a barrier within a trade barrier. “
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gaza has recorded more than 36,000 cases and 310 deaths. The virus has spread rapidly in the dense fort, where 70 percent of the population is refugees living in dense camps.
‘This is a barrier within a trade bloc’, said Mahmoud Abu Samaan [Bashar Taleb/Al Jazeera]
Hamas, which controls the land, has suspended Friday prayers at mosques, restaurant closures, wedding halls and receptions. The lockout has left thousands unemployed, reducing the unemployment rate, which stood at more than 50 percent even before the pandemic.
Abu Samaan said he and his family of four were all positive for the virus, but their symptoms were mild. “I was really scared,” he said. “Not of the virus, but of the terrible health system here.”
He said: “It’s not the coronavirus, but the ongoing ban that has ruined our lives.”
‘Things we haven’t counted before’
Wafaa Abu Kwaik, an English teacher, contracted the virus, along with her husband and five children.
The 40-year-old said a total of 19 people in her extended family were ill. But Abu Kwaik said she and her relatives did not receive proper care.
“My 62-year-old mother’s condition deteriorated because of her hypertension and diabetes,” Abu Kwaik said.
Hospitals in Gaza unable to deal with high number of patients, Wafaa Abu Kwaik said [Photo courtesy of Wafaa Kwaik]
Her mother’s condition was very bad, but she got over it after spending 15 days in the intensive care unit.
“The situation was very difficult. There were hundreds of cases every day and not enough beds. The medical staff could not cope with these numbers, and most were declining not because of the virus, but because of a lack of medical equipment and facilities for their treatment. “
‘Catastrophic’
The Israeli-Egyptian trade embargo has left Gaza’s health care system in a state of disrepair.
Abd al-Latif al-Hajj, director of international cooperation at a Hamas-run health ministry, said Gaza’s health care system has been overrun for years in the midst of obstruction and from three significant military attacks on the enclave.
“This year, there is a 47 per cent shortage in medicines, a 32 per cent shortage in medical supplies and a 62 per cent shortage in medical laboratory supplies,” he said.
“There is also a shortage of medical staff who work at a limited level because they do not receive regular salaries.”
With the COVID-19 revolution, the situation in Gaza’s hospitals was “catastrophic”, al-Hajj said, adding that people with other harmful diseases, such as heart disease and cancer, were unable to leave Gaza. for medical treatment because of the pandemic.
Al-Hajj also noted that Israel has already begun vaccinating its citizens, evading its obligation towards the occupied Gaza Strip.
“Unfortunately, no one can force Israel to fulfill its obligations to the Palestinians,” he said.
Pouring ‘oil on fire’
Israel lifted the embargo on Gaza in June 2007, restricting the flow of goods and people into and out of Gaza after Hamas took control of the land.
The UN has called for an end to the Israeli siege, saying the embargo amounts to a “common punishment of the two million residents of Gaza” – an act banned by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Egypt’s border has moved Palestinian Gaza through the Rafah border and Hamas disputes with the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, have exacerbated the situation.
The PA has limited financial moves to Gaza and even called on Israel to cut back on electricity supply.
“We need to find new terms to describe the situation in Gaza,” said Omar Shaban, a Gaza-based political analyst.
“The UN said in 2012 that Gaza will not survive in 2020. Then came the 2014 war, which lasted 51 days and destroyed the infrastructure in Gaza, followed by a number of armed increases and a tolerable economic blockade.”
He said: “In 2020, the coronavirus came to spill oil on the fire, and the situation here became disastrous at every level.”
In April, 19 human rights groups urged Israel to lift its siege on Gaza so that the region could be equipped with the necessary medical supplies to deal with the pandemic.
‘Gaza can’t keep up like this’
Azzam Shaath, a legal investigator at the Palestinian Human Rights Center, said Israel also had a responsibility as a property power to care for Palestinians living in Gaza.
“It should respond to the emergency needs, provide medical care equipment and support, and implement diagnostic measures to prevent contamination and disease,” he said.
“Israel should immediately remove restrictions on the movement of goods and any other obstacles to trade exchanges and economic activities that threaten public health.”
He called on the international community to press Israel to suspend the Gaza trade embargo.
“The international community needs to understand that Gaza cannot continue like this,” he said.
“What the world has seen this year is what the people of Gaza have lived through the 14 years of Israeli blockade.”