Temat: Wiadomości z kraju i ze świata

More recently, in fiscal year 2019, the US provided $3.8 billion in foreign military aid to Israel. Israel also benefits from about $8 billion of loan guarantees. Almost all US aid to Israel is now in the form of military assistance, while in the past it also received significant economic assistance.

AMMAN, 15 May 2021 – “Eight Palestinian children were reported killed north of Gaza overnight, bringing to at least 40 the number of children killed there since 10 May. The age of these children ranges between six months to 17 years. Over half of them were under 10 years old. More than 1,000 people in Gaza are reported injured, some severely, including a high number of children. In Israel, two children, including a six-year-old, were killed since the escalation began.

“In the past week, in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, one 16-year old child was killed and at least 54 Palestinian children were reported injured, another 26 children have been arrested. Most have since been released.

“In Gaza, 35 schools have been damaged while at least 29 schools are temporarily sheltering displaced families who fled their homes due to heavy violence. Up to 10,000 people have been displaced, the majority are children. UNICEF received reports that three schools have been damaged in Israel.

“The scale of violence is massive. Children are bearing the brunt of this escalation. All sides need to step back and end the violence. All sides have an obligation to protect civilians – especially children – and facilitate humanitarian access. The underlying triggers for this violence will not be resolved through further violence.”

In March 2020, Israel announced that as part of its fight against the coronavirus, it would further reduce the already miniscule number of Palestinians permitted to leave the Gaza Strip for medical purposes. In doing so, Israel shirked its duty to allow ill residents access to essential treatment unavailable within the Gaza Strip, and left them to their fate.

Gaza’s healthcare system has been in a state of collapse for years due to Israeli policy. Already, it cannot meet the population’s needs due to a shortage of medicine, equipment, doctors and professional training. Before the pandemic, thousands of Palestinians a year applied to leave Gaza to receive medical treatment unavailable at home, either in hospitals in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) or in Israel. The Israeli authorities hampered the approval of these requests, including by restricting permits to treatment they define “lifesaving” and only if they are unavailable in Gaza.

n comparison, from March 2019 to February 2020 (just before the pandemic), according to World Health Organization figures, almost 24,000 Gazans applied for permits to enter Israel for vital medical treatment. Some 65% of the requests related to treatment at hospitals in East Jerusalem, about 22% to hospitals in the rest of the West Bank, and some 13% to hospitals in Israel. Of all these applications, more than a third (about 8,500) were rejected or not answered before the scheduled appointment, including at least 2,274 minors and about 996 persons over 60. Among the persons who were rejected or went unanswered, at least 1,996 had cancer, 597 had a heart condition, and 210 required neurosurgical treatment.

Allowing Palestinians from Gaza to enter the West Bank or Israel for medical care is not an act of charity on Israel’s part. Israel created this reality and is therefore responsible for it. It is the authority that controls all passage into and out of the Gaza Strip (except for Rafah Crossing), that determines the level of medical care available within Gaza, that has chosen to imprison more than two million people and keep them cut off from the world, and that prevents residents from receiving crucial treatment they cannot receive within Gaza due to Israeli policy.