Gaza: from economic to humanitarian disaster

by Sonja Karkar writing for Women for Palestine and Australians for Palestine

...Since Hamas re-took power in Gaza after routing Fatah forces, the Palestinians there have been living under a state of siege. Israel has adamantly refused to let through some 104 boxes of basic food stuffs being provided by UNRWA to more than half of Gaza’s population, despite saying that aid through UNRWA would be given passage. Israel cites "security considerations" as the reason. The only opening is through the Karm Abu Salem Crossing in the southern Gaza Strip and its 15 truck per day capacity cannot serve a 1.4 million population in desperate need. According to the UN, at least 100 trucks a day need to be going into Gaza. The shortages of food, water supplies, fuel and medicine are so alarming that organizations like UNRWA and OXFAM are calling for an immediate re-opening of Gaza’s border...

continua / continued