Ramallah, 12-09-06: On 12 September 2005, the last Israeli soldier left the Gaza Strip under Israel’s unilateral ‘disengagement’ plan designed to ‘break out of’ the current ‘stalemate’, improve Israel’s ‘security’, and “reduce friction with the Palestinian population” thereby providing the “potential for improvement in the Palestinian economy and living conditions.” [1]
The disengagement was hailed by the international community as a “courageous decision”, [2] a “bold and historic initiative,” [3] and an unmissable window of opportunity for the Palestinian people:
This opportunity holds great promise for the Palestinian people to build a modern economy that will lift millions out of poverty, create the institutions and habits of liberty, and renounce the terror and violence that impede their aspirations and take a terrible toll on innocent life.
US President George W. Bush Commends Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the Disengagement Plan, April 14 2004 [4]
Yet one year on, the situation has reached a nadir never before seen, with Gaza’s 1.4 million inhabitants festering in the midst of a humanitarian crisis.
Rarely, if ever before has Gaza seen such massive levels of violence, terror and death, such crippling rates of poverty and unemployment, such economic stagnation, and such a stranglehold over all of its border crossings.
Even prior Israel’s euphemistically-named ‘Operation Summer Rain’ which began on June 28 2006, Gaza was facing an imminent humanitarian crisis due to a series of factors:
Prolonged Israeli closures of Gaza’s border crossings, which led to shortages of essential items including bread, dairy products, fruit and medical supplies, and which brought Gaza’s export market to a grinding halt. As of 3 May 2006, the Karni crossing, the largest crossing point for commercial supplies into the Gaza Strip, had been closed for 57 days in 2006 (47 percent of the year), resulting in estimated daily losses of US$ 500,000 – US$ 600,000. [5]
Acute levels of poverty and unemployment, which stood at 40 percent and 80 percent in April 2006 respectively. [6]
Sustained Israeli military attacks, including 112 air strikes, and the firing of 4,251 artillery shells and 5 naval shells into the Gaza Strip during the period between 29 March-27 June 2006 alone. [7] During the same period, a total of 94 Gazans were killed, including at least 35 civilians, 14 of whom were children and 6 of whom were women. [8]
External funding cuts to the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a result of (a) the decision by some members of the international community to halt funding to the Palestinian government elected in January 2006; (b) the refusal of Israel to transfer tax monies collected on behalf of the PA; and (c) the freezing of PA accounts by commercial banks. As a result, the PA has been unable to pay the salaries of up to 165,000 government employees, which directly support more than 25 percent of the Palestinian population [9], since February 2006. Such funding cuts have had particularly devastating consequences in the Gaza Strip, where 37 percent of the entire workforce is employed by the PA (74,437 people). [10]
Yet it was Israel’s renewed invasion of the Gaza Strip on June 28 2006 following a Palestinian attack on an Israeli military target on June 25, that gave Gazans the final push over the brink from impending, to full blown humanitarian crisis.
Deaths and Injuries
More than 250 Gazans have been killed since then, including at least 45 children and 11 women. [11] As of August 24, at least 842 Gazans had been injured, including 240 children and 28 women. [12]
Electricity
Gaza’s only domestic power plant was destroyed by Israeli air strikes on June 28, leaving the entire Gazan population with only intermittent power. Today, more than two months later, Gazans are still receiving as little as six-eight hours of electricity per day, [13] and are largely dependent on insufficient, costly generators which are reliant on dwindling fuel supplies. Repairs to the plant will take up to eight months, and will cost an estimated US$ 1.8 million. [14]
Water, Sanitation and Public Health
In that Gaza’s water and sewage systems depend entirely on electricity to power water and sewage pumps, the lack of electricity has critically affected water supplies and sewage systems.
Sporadic access to water supplies means that ordinary Gazans are unable to meet their everyday needs related to drinking water, personal hygiene and washing clothes.
Damage due to Israeli shelling and a lack of electricity to power sewage pumps have also left the Beit Lahiya waste water treatment at a critical point, and sewage ponds are threatening to overflow into nearby population areas. [15]
In addition, the fact that the Gaza Municipality is lacking fuel for its garbage trucks, combined with strikes by public sector workers since September 2 in protest at the non-payment of salaries, has left Gaza’s streets filled with piles of rotting debris, posing serious public health concerns. [16] The World Health Organisation reported that cases of watery and bloody diarrhoea amongst refugees for the last week of June and the first week of July increased by 163% and 140% respectively compared to the same period last year. [17] The United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) has also reported an upward trend in the number of child consultations for diarrhoea, particularly in the Northern Gaza and Rafah districts, where an increase of 200 percent was registered from March to June 2006. [18]
Road Networks
Six bridges and several main roads linking north, central and southern Gaza were destroyed in Israeli air strikes on 28 June. Gaza is now cut into two and movement between the north, centre and south has been obstructed, with serious implications for the ability of emergency health services to reach patients and injured persons.
Health
Rising deaths and injuries as a result of the Israeli invasion have placed further pressure on hospital services, already critically affected by external funding cuts. Electricity cuts have seriously weakened the capacity of hospitals to maintain service provision and hospitals are now reliant on costly back-up generators to remain partially functional.
Continuous power is required for the preservation of vaccine cold chain items, food for patients, and emergency operations. Operating theatres have already reduced functions due to lack of electricity and medical supplies. [19]
Prolonged Israeli border closures have also led to severe shortages of basic drugs, disposable equipment, and diagnostic materials. At the end of July, 80 of the 437 items on the Ministry of Health’s essential drugs list had less than one months’ stock, while another 80 had less than three months’ stock. [20]
Prolonged Border Closures
All entry and exit points to Gaza have been virtually sealed by Israel since June 25. This led among other things to a severe crisis at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, where thousands of Palestinians were stranded, including 33 patients who underwent medical treatment in Egypt. Five people died at the terminal whilst waiting in extreme summer temperatures including a 70-year-old man, a 15-year-old boy, a 19-year-old woman, an 18-month-old baby, and a 27-year-old woman.
Additionally, hundreds of chronically ill patients, including cancer and heart patients requiring essential life-saving medical treatment unavailable in Gaza have been unable to leave.
The Rafah ccrossing opened sporadically at the end of August, but remains closed for regular movement.
Displacement
47 families (340 persons), including more than 100 children, are being temporarily housed in a UN school in Rafah after fleeing Israeli shelling around their homes. [21] The number of displaced persons reached up to 3,400 in July 2006. [22]
Food Security
The growing number of poor in Gaza are living on the bare minimum and face a daily struggle to cover their daily food needs. 70 percent of Gaza's population is food insecure and the vast majority is dependant on food aid to cover their basic needs. Today, Gaza remains completely reliant on an external food supply and commercial stocks. [23]
Agriculture: In July 2006 alone, 400 hectares of agricultural land were destroyed, together with irrigation networks and greenhouses, leaving many farmers destitute and unable to cultivate their land. The costs to farmers of power and water to maintain crops mean higher prices for consumers at a time when purchasing power of Gazans is at an all-time low. [24]
Fishing: Fish provided up to one third of protein intake in Gaza prior to June 28. The fishing industry was already in a steep decline before the invasion due to restrictions placed by Israel on Palestinian fishermen, and pollution. A total ban on fishing was imposed by Israel on 25 June. Markets are now empty of fish and 35,000 people reliant on the industry are suffering a devastating loss of income. [25]
Sonic Booms
Israel resumed its sonic boom campaign on 28 June 2006. Between 28 June and 4 July, there were 25 sonic booms caused by Israeli war planes breaking the sound barrier at low altitudes. [27] There are approximately 3-4 booms each night, causing widespread anxiety and distress to families, especially young children. Sonic booms have been directly related to the rising number of miscarriages and premature births in the Gaza Strip.
In such a context, and when the facts speak so clearly for themselves, only with the blackest irony could it be suggested that the Palestinian people “renounce the terror and violence that impede their aspirations and take a terrible toll on innocent life.”
Notes
[1] The Disengagement Plan: General Outline. 18 April 2004. Communicated by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office. http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/historicaldocuments/264.shtml.
[2] UN General Secretary, Kofi Annan, cited in UN News Centre. 18 August 2005. Annan Commends Israeli Withdrawal from Gaza. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=15474&Cr=Middle&Cr1=East.
[3] Letter from US President George Bush to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 14 April 2004. http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/historicaldocuments/260.shtml.
[4] The White House, Office of the Press Secretary. President Bush Commends Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's Plan. April 14 2004. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040414-4.html.
[5] OCHA. Humanitarian Update, March 2006, page 3. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaHU0306_En-Final2.pdf.; OCHA. 3 May 2006. Situation Report: The Gaza Strip. OCHA: Jerusalem.
[6] Figures on unemployment are for the first quarter of 2006. OCHA. July 2006. The Humanitarian Monitor, Occupied Palestinian Territory, No. 3. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/oPt_Humanitarian_Monitor_July06.pdf. Page 7.
[7] Figures calculated from OCHA Weekly Briefing Notes, 29 March – 27 June 2006. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/oPt/.
[8] Figures calculated from OCHA Weekly Briefing Notes, 3 May – 27 June 2006. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/oPt/.
[9] United Nations. 19 April 2006. Assessment of the Future Humanitarian Risks in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. http://www.reliefweb.int/library/documents/2006/ocha-opt-11apr.pdf
[10] Ibid: 4.
[11] OCHA. 24 August 2006. Gaza Strip Situation Report, 7-24 August, 3pm. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/GazaStripOCHA%20sitrep_24August06.pdf. Page 2.
[12] Ibid: 2.
[13] Ibid: 2.
[14] Ibid: 1.
[15] Ibid: 3.
[16] See also OCHA. Gaza Strip Situation Report, 12 July, 12pm. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/Gaza_strip_OCHA%20sitrep_12July06.pdf. Page 3.
[17] OCHA. Gaza Strip Situation Report, 12 July, 12pm. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/Gaza_strip_OCHA%20sitrep_12July06.pdf. Page 3.
[18] OCHA, 24 August: Page 2-3.
[19] OCHA. 8 August. Gaza Strip Situation Report, 7 August, 3pm. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/GazaStripOCHA%20sitrep_8August06.pdf.
[20] OCHA, 8 August: 3.
[21] OCHA, 24 August: 3.
[22] Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights. 57 Palestinians killed, 121 injured, tens of houses destroyed and agricultural lands levelled as a result to IOF continued offensive on the Gaza Strip. Press Release, 10 July 2006. http://www.mezan.org/site_en/press_room/press_detail.php?id=486; OCHA, 8 August: 4.
[23] WFP. 28 August 2006. WFP warns of deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2225.
[24] Ibid.
[25] FAO cited in OCHA. 3 August 2006. Statement on Gaza by United Nations Humanitarian Agencies working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/JointstatementAug06-eng.pdf.
[26] OCHA. 28 June-4 July 2006. Protection of Civilians – Weekly Briefing Notes. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/WBN162.pdf.