Humanitarian disaster looming in Gaza after Israeli closure of crossings

A humanitarian catastrophe is looming in the Gaza Strip after Israeli war minister Ehud Barak decided to retain Gaza commercial crossings closed on Monday as fuel supplies used for generating electricity were almost depleted. 

This decision was taken after Barak ordered his troops days ago to breach the truce and carry out a military aggression on Gaza which prompted Palestinian resistance factions to retaliate.

Kanaan Obaid, the deputy head of the energy authority, warned on Sunday that that the fuel supplies that feed the only power station in Gaza would run out completely as of Monday afternoon because of the Israeli closure of all crossings.

Power outages cause the death of many patients in Gaza hospitals who depend on electrical medical devices.

In a statement received by the PIC, the governmental committee to break the siege underscored on Sunday that the besieged Gaza people would never forget those who backed them during these difficult circumstances, noting that the Israeli siege caused major damage to all aspects of life in the Strip.

Alaa Al-Batta, the spokesman for the committee, said that the activists who arrived aboard the dignity ship expressed their shock at the size of the devastation caused by the blockade on Gaza, adding that they met with farmers and fishermen and listened to their suffering and daily losses

Batta stated that the activists also met with released prisoners and Mohamed Ketri, the deputy minister of prisoners” affairs, and were briefed about the most prominent problems faced by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They also met with representatives of civil society institutions, he added.

In a new development, a Palestinian patient in Gaza called Ameen Fayyad, 28, was proclaimed dead, thus the victims of the Israeli siege rose to 257 patients.

In a press statement received by the PIC, the Palestinian health ministry said that the IOA refused to allow Fayyad, who was suffering from leukemia, to receive medical treatment in hospitals inside 1948 occupied lands despite having all medical reports showing his need to receive medical treatment not available in the Strip.