8 July 2016
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Palestinians are still dying as a result of Israel’s 2014 attacks on Gaza, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) warned on the two-year anniversary of the conflict.
During the hostilities, over 2,000 Palestinians died and 11,000 were injured, leaving many with permanent disabilities. The explosives dropped on Gaza have continued to claim lives since, and surgeons entering Gaza with MAP and partner charity IDEALS – and the Palestinian limb reconstruction team they have trained in Al Shifa hospital – have treated children injured by these weapons.
MAP’s Director of Programmes in Gaza, Fikr Shalltoot, said: “According to the UN, only 40 percent of the estimated 7,000 explosive remnants of war (ERWs) had been cleared between the end of the hostilities and January 2016. During this time, they have claimed 16 lives and injured 97 people, including 48 children.”
Further injuries have been reported throughout this year, with children playing in rubble and those working on agricultural land most at risk.
If the world cares about Gaza’s plight, the blockade and closure must not be allowed to reach its tenth anniversary
The humanitarian crisis is compounded by Israel’s blockade of Gaza, now in its tenth year. Gaza’s economy has been stifled, and unemployment has reached among the highest rates in the world. Stocks of vital medical supplies inside Gaza are dwindling, and with severe restrictions imposed by Israel on patients seeking to leave for treatment abroad and the Rafah crossing with Egypt largely closed, many patients struggle to access the care they need.
“Two years later, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza as a result of the 2014 attacks has not faded,” said Fikr Shalltoot. “The only way to end this crisis is for the international community to ensure that all unexploded ordnance is safely removed, vital infrastructure rebuilt, and Gaza opened. If the world cares about Gaza’s plight, the blockade and closure must not be allowed to reach its tenth anniversary.”
MAP calls for international donors to live up to their promises to Gaza, and to exert concerted political effort to end the blockade.
Sign the #OpenGaza petition here!
Access to Medical Care
29% of essential medicines and 41% of medical disposals are at zero stock in Gaza, meaning less than one month’s supply is available at Gaza’s central drug store.
27% of patients applying to Israel for permits to exit Gaza for vital medical treatment abroad were delayed or denied between January – April 2016.
Treating Gaza’s war-wounded
11,000 Palestinians were injured in the 2014 attacks on Gaza. Over 1,000 (including 300 children) suffer injuries to their limbs, and approximately 100 have received amputations.
16 people were killed and 97 injured, including 48 children, by explosive remnants of war in Gaza Between August 2014 and January 2016.
244 Palestinians have been assessed and prescribed treatment, and 105 received surgeries, via the MAP-IDEALS limb reconstruction teams visiting Gaza from the UK.
£658,000 worth of surgical equipment and implants have been provided by MAP to the newly-established Limb Reconstruction Unit at al Shifa Hospital, which has performed 11 operations.
Gaza’s economy
75,000 people are still displaced after their homes were destroyed in 2014.
45% of adults are unemployed in Gaza – among the highest rates in the world.
80 % of people in Gaza rely on humanitarian assistance to cover their basic needs.