22 December 2017
Mahmoud Shalabi, MAP’s Manager of Emergency and Medical Training Programmes, describes how severe electricity shortages detrimentally affect daily life in Gaza.
“The electricity crisis does not discriminate between summer or winter, the people of Gaza suffer on a daily basis regardless of the season!
In summer the heat averaged 36 degrees Celsius, and the humidity was over 50 per cent. One hoped that the air conditioners, fans, and other cooling devices available would kill the heat and help Gazans enjoy their day. However, the reality was grim with only 3.5 to four hours of electricity per day, and some even reporting only two hours per day. You could never predict the hours when the electricity was coming back, and even if you were home when it did, there was no guarantee that you could finish all your chores relying on electricity that may be cut off at any minute.
At night, the situation was worse. You could not escape mosquitoes and the heat was still only a notch below 30 degrees. Little children preferred sleeping on the floor to escape the scorching heat. If you wanted to escape the heat, you would want to go to the big, beautiful, greenish-blue sea to have a swim. But you could not! Due to the shortage in electricity, municipalities dumped raw sewage water into the sea contaminating a very large proportion of it. Driving along the sea road, you read signs that prohibit swimming and even fishing. Thinking of taking a shower? Gazans have no control of when the water is being pumped to houses because of the electricity problem. If you could take your daily shower in the heat, you were lucky!
As we enter the winter, my fears do not budge. The cold in Gaza is bitter. Most of the time, people rely on heaters to beat the cold, but these heaters either use electricity or gas. Electricity is scarce nowadays in Gaza, and the gas is expensive, with one litre costing £1.30. In an economy where nearly 40 per cent of people live below the poverty line, it is impossible for many families to use heaters. The lack of electricity also affects the water temperatures at homes making it frosty and painful to use, particularly for older people and children. Many older people I know suffer from bone ache as a result of the freezing water, and the same applies to children who start crying when the water touches their skin.
During summer, due to severe electricity shortages, people spend time in open areas to try to escape the heat and have some natural light, but they cannot do this during the winter and have to spend their time at home. Many families, unfortunately, rely on candles to light their houses during winter where darkness looms for long periods of the day. This threatens their lives, exposing them to the risk of fires caused by forgetting the candles.
All of the above is just a portion of what Palestinians in Gaza have been suffering recently, but imagine the suffering of someone who has health complications, who needs to have regular treatment at hospitals that do not have enough power. Sometimes patients need to be transferred to outside of Gaza for treatment, but for about half of them their application for travel gets rejected or delayed.
Their suffering is even worse.”
Resolving Gaza’s protracted humanitarian crisis requires diplomatic action. Governments, including the UK, must work to ensure that international humanitarian law is strictly adhered to in the oPt, including helping to end Israel’s 10-year closure of Gaza, which the International Committee of the Red Cross considers “collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law”.
Please help us call on the UK to raise Palestinians’ right to health at Israel’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council in January.
