The situation in the Gaza Strip is worse now than it has been since Israel has occupied the West Bank in 1967, a report by Amnesty International and other human rights groups revealed Thursday. credit
. Amnesty internationals Report on Gaza Humanitarian Crisis
Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip has created the worst humanitarian crisis ... food shortages, crumbling health services and a water and sewage system close to collapse are all part of the daily misery facing 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza.
Gaza is forced to become the biggest concentration camp and an enclave held hostage by the Israeli embargo, which it said had worsened poverty and unemployment, crippled education services and made 1.1 million people -- 80 percent of the population -- dependent on food aid.
the health system was in tatters, with hospitals facing daily power cuts lasting eight to 12 hours a day due to fuel and electricity restrictions. Aid groups and legal experts have called Israel's blockade illegal under international law because it constitutes "collective punishment" of the entire population.
"It's grossly disproportional," Geoffry Binder, an expert on international humanitarian law in London, told Reuters.
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said Israel must protect its citizens, "but as the occupying power in Gaza it also has a legal duty to ensure that Gazans have access to food, clean water, electricity and medical care."
"What we're dealing with here is a few rockets coming from presumably one small corner of Gaza. And the response is the blockade and the destruction of hundreds of lives and the impoverishment of the whole area. Punishing the entire Gazan population by denying them these basic human rights is utterly indefensible. The current situation is man-made and must be reversed."
. Amnesty internationals Report on Gaza Humanitarian Crisis
Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip has created the worst humanitarian crisis ... food shortages, crumbling health services and a water and sewage system close to collapse are all part of the daily misery facing 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza.
Gaza is forced to become the biggest concentration camp and an enclave held hostage by the Israeli embargo, which it said had worsened poverty and unemployment, crippled education services and made 1.1 million people -- 80 percent of the population -- dependent on food aid.
the health system was in tatters, with hospitals facing daily power cuts lasting eight to 12 hours a day due to fuel and electricity restrictions. Aid groups and legal experts have called Israel's blockade illegal under international law because it constitutes "collective punishment" of the entire population.
"It's grossly disproportional," Geoffry Binder, an expert on international humanitarian law in London, told Reuters.
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said Israel must protect its citizens, "but as the occupying power in Gaza it also has a legal duty to ensure that Gazans have access to food, clean water, electricity and medical care."
"What we're dealing with here is a few rockets coming from presumably one small corner of Gaza. And the response is the blockade and the destruction of hundreds of lives and the impoverishment of the whole area. Punishing the entire Gazan population by denying them these basic human rights is utterly indefensible. The current situation is man-made and must be reversed."
Israel removed all 21 settlements and withdrew its forces from Gaza in 2005. Israel maintains that ended its occupation, but rights groups say that since Israel still controls Gaza's land, sea and air access, it is still the occupier. credit
Occupation or stealing of Palestinian land?
# Further Reads
. Holocaust in the making
. More than 50% of Gaza casualties weren't militants
. The Palestinian Information Center
. Gaza Diary: Not a life for children/ By Omar, a humanitarian worker in partnership with Oxfam
. Humanitarian crisis in Gaza
. Human Rights violations in Gaza 'catastrophic'
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