The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights warned today, Wednesday, of a real danger affecting the health sector infrastructure in Gaza, and the possibility of the Coronavirus epidemic getting out of control.
In a statement, the Center indicated that basic services in Gaza are suffering from an unprecedented deterioration due to the continued Israeli blockade, which will make the outbreak of the Corona an existing threat and threaten a real disaster in light of the deterioration of health services and the power outages for more than 20 hours per day.
The Israeli restrictions constitute a decisive factor in undermining the efforts to besiege and prevent the epidemic, including the preservation of samples and the continued work of governmental, private and private medical laboratories, and frustrate the ability of already modest hospitals to fulfill their duties towards patients, according to the center´s statement.
The facts indicate that the Israeli occupation authorities did not pay heed to the deteriorating humanitarian conditions and the grave threats to the collapse of the health system and the water and sanitation management system, and continued to prohibit the entry of industrial fuel needed to operate the only power plant in the Strip, so that its stoppage caused an increase in the electric power deficit to reach a rate (80%).
The Corona pandemic comes at a time when the Palestinian economy in the Gaza Strip is witnessing an accelerating and unprecedented collapse, and the phenomenon of unemployment is spreading to affect more than half of the workforce, and the proportion of poor people in society exceeds half the population, according to the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights.
The problem of food insecurity is also exacerbated, affecting about 70% of the population, as families face difficulties in providing the quantity and quality of food due to limited financial resources, as the problem of power cuts with a group of families leads to a further deterioration of the humanitarian situation and economic collapse.
The center expressed its fear of the dangerous effects of the electricity crisis on health services, especially laboratories and blood banks in hospitals, warning of its repercussions on the lives of the residents of the Gaza Strip, especially the sick, the elderly and children who are forced to stay in their homes.
He called on the international community to support the capabilities of local authorities to prevent the epidemic from getting out of control.
The center had warned dozens of times about the catastrophic and profound effects of the ongoing Israeli blockade, which caused the weakening of the capacities of the health sector and other sectors.
The tightened blockade deprives the Gaza Strip of opportunities to control the epidemic, which requires the immediate lifting of the blockade, and the provision of effective support that enhances the capabilities of local authorities to contain the epidemic and deal with patients.
The Center called on the international community to intervene immediately and effectively, and to put pressure on the occupying power to immediately lift its blockade, provide the sector with its needs of fuel, electricity, and support the health sector with all its needs.
