SAVING LIVES IN GAZA

People in Gaza must be afforded save access to essential supplies like food and water and health facilities. Essential humanitarian supplies like medicine, medical equipment, food, fuel, and water must be allowed to enter the Gazan enclave. To facilitate this, Rafah border crossing with Egypt must be opened and bombings on the crossing point must cease.

Some 2.2 million people are currently trapped in the Gaza strip, where indiscriminate bombing has turned a chronic humanitarian crisis into a catastrophe. Fighter jets are demolishing entire streets block by block. There is no place to hide, no time to rest. Some places are being bombed on consecutive nights. Millions of men, women and children are facing a collective punishment in the form of total siege, indiscriminate bombing, and the pending threat of a ground battle. Safe spaces must be established, humanitarian supplies must be allowed into Gaza. The wounded and sick must receive medical care. Medical facilities and personnel must be protected and respected; hospitals and ambulances are not targets.

The siege imposed by the Israeli government, including the withholding of food, water, fuel, and electricity is unconscionable. Following 16 years of military blockade of the Gaza strip, the medical facilities within are already weakened. The siege leaves no respite for patients caught up in the fighting, nor for medical staff. It represents an intentional block on life-saving items; the entry of these supplies and key medical staff must be facilitated urgently. Hospitals are running out of anesthetics and painkillers. Medical personnel are extremely restricted in their movements. They are unable to obtain safe passage to support medical colleagues working day and night to treat the injured.

Hospitals in Gaza don’t have enough beds to accommodate the wounded from Israel’s bombardments. The injured and ill people lie on the floor. Hospitals are still running on generators, but fuel will run out soon, putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk, kidney dialysis stops, X-rays can’t be taken. Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues

Civilians, civilian infrastructure and healthcare facilities must be protected at all times. the Government of Israel to cease its campaign of collective punishment against the entirety of Gaza. Israel and Palestinian authorities and factions must establish safe spaces. The entry of humanitarian assistance, food, water, fuel, medicine, and medical equipment to the Gaza Strip must be facilitated urgently. The failure to do so will cost more lives.