"Gaza is cut off from the outside world. Israel is seemingly not keen on the world seeing the suffering that its blockade is causing to the one and a half million Palestinians who are virtually trapped there," Philip Luther from Amnesty said

"Today I went to look for bread in several bakeries but couldn’t find any," Abu Khalil, a resident of Gaza City, told Amnesty International on Thursday evening. "There is no electricity, it's pitch dark."
"A few months ago, we bought an electric cooker because cooking gas is difficult to find and very expensive, but now without electricity we can't even cook. We are sitting at home in the dark; the children don't know what to do with themselves. We can’t do anything. Until when can we live like this?" he added.

Other residents of Gaza told Amnesty International that they could not even find candles in the market any more. They said that the few people who have back generators in their homes and who still have fuel do not dare to use them because nobody knows when the blackout will end.


"only the bare minimum of goods have entered Gaza in the past couple of days".Oxfam International, a British humanitarian agency.

The organisation "fears a serious worsening once again of the humanitarian situation if urgent action is not taken", Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's chief executive, said on Tuesday.

Ok, What's Exactly Going On?



Gaza has been suffering rolling blackouts and food shortages as Israel sealed its borders for the last two weeks (since the 4th of November). Moreover, International journalists have been barred from entering and Palestinian patients have been prevented from leaving the territory.

The United Nations’ highest-ranking human rights officer urged Israel to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
"By function of this blockade, 1.5 million Palestinian men, women and children have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay in a statement.
Pillay said the blockade is illegal under international human rights and humanitarian law, and "must end now."

On Monday, Israel allowed 33 truckloads of goods into Gaza, allowing the UN to resume food distribution, but officials say the Strip is still on the brink of crisis. UNRWA -the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees that serves 750,000 Palestinians- says it requires 15 trucks a day of supplies to sustain normal humanitarian operations.
Pillay welcomed Monday’s limited shipments, but said the blockade must be completely lifted. She cited Israel’s obligation as the Occupying Power under international law.
"Only a full lifting of the blockade followed by a strong humanitarian response will be adequate to relieve the massive humanitarian suffering evident in Gaza today," she said, then added "Decisive steps must be taken to preserve the dignity and basic welfare of the civilian population, more than half of which are children,"

At the same Time Al-Khudari -member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and head of the popular committee against the siege in Gaza- notifying "The situation in the Gaza Strip is shifting from “collective punishment to genocide,”. adding that Gaza Strip will run out of basic supplies of food in the next few days if Israel or Egypt does not ease a strict fifteen-day blockade of the territory.
"“all aspects of life” have been affected by the closure of Rafah and the other, Israeli-controlled crossings". He noted that Gaza’s only power plant shut down on Thursday due to a lack of fuel. There have also been acute shortages of cooking gas and other fuels. while nearly Eighty percent of Gazans are living below the poverty level.

Al-Khudari estimated that 2,000 truckloads of goods need to come through the Gaza crossings if the area is ever to recover from the two-year siege and blockade. Supplies eking into the Gaza Strip at the last moment when there are ships-full of goods sitting in Israel ports being held by Israel is totally unacceptable, said Al-Khudari. “We even pay taxes on these goods!” he added.

Direct losses to the Gaza economy as a result of the blockade are estimated at 750 million US dollars, and indirect losses are astronomic. Al-Khudari stressed that 3,900 factories in Gaza have closed, and the few that remained open have shut due to lack of fuel.

The crumbling industry has seen 140,000 Gazans lose their jobs, and has forced the 1.4 million people living in the area to scratch out a living from odd jobs, and survive on the few industries left, and what can be dragged through underground tunnels.

Health Sector:



Emergency and Ambulatory Services Director General Mu’awiyya Hassanein said despite that the Health Ministry lacks over 300 types of necessary medication, the 15 trucks were stopped at the Karem Shalom crossing into Gaza. Hassanein said Gaza hospitals would soon run out of several other medications, as well. Adding "A health disaster will occur if Israel continues to prevent the shipment of medicine to Gaza,” .

On Sunday, the siege’s death toll rose to 258, when a seven-month-old baby died at the Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Meanwhile, about 400 patients suffering from cancer and heart diseases are awaiting treatment in Israeli and West Bank hospitals. Israel has only allowed 270 other Gaza patients to receive treatment since the blockade was imposed in early November.

Hassanein appealed for international health organizations to intervene to “save Gaza Strip hospitals from the health disaster, which has already begun.”
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