Medical Aid for Palestinians has sent out an alert that many crucial drugs in beseiged Gaza have run out. Their appeal follows a World Health Organization report from June 2011 that of the 480 medications on the essential drug list, 178 (37%) were reported at "zero stock levels" in the Gaza Ministry of Health's Central Drug Store. Stock levels continue to decline. Essential drugs at zero stock levels 2007: 14%, 2008: 16%, 2009: 18%; 2010: 24%, 2011: 37%. According to the UN's Protection of Civilians Weekly Report for 7-13 December 2011 the lives of 450 patients on kidney dialysis machines in Gaza were at risk due to no stocks of essential drugs. Gaza is occupied Israeli land, and under international law the occupier is obliged to address the humanitarian needs of those it has under military control. Israel has a world-class medical system and is obliged to extend this to Palestinians under its control. Instead, it has placed Gaza under an unconscionable seige, and the human toll rises week by week. Medical Aid for Palestinians comments: "This escalating crisis could easily be averted, and is compounded by the Israeli policy of collective punishment. It is because Palestinians live under occupation that the Israeli authorities control the taxes in Palestine. The Israeli government will often delay or withhold these taxes to pressurise the Palestinian Authority into compliance, most recently in an attempt to stop the statehood bid at the UN. Palestinians are powerless to use their money to help their own people. The loss of the revenue has had a serious impact on the supply of essential medicines and medical equipment to the hospitals and clinics." To donate to MAP's appeal for funds for medicines click here. Funds are needed in the short term just to keep Palestinians alive. But if they are ever to live in freedom, dignity and equality, it will take more than funds alone. Only the international boycott of Israel seems to have any chance of bringing this 'lunatic state' back into line with international moral standards. |