AI: Siege in Gaza leaves people barely alive

London-based Amnesty International has warned that the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip was gravely affecting the life of its inhabitants in an unprecedented manner.

Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International”s chief researcher for the Arab-Israeli conflict zone, said in a report that last month the humanitarian aid assistance to Gaza along with other basic necessities were reduced to the minimum requirements to keep those inhabitants alive.

She pointed out that the siege was more stringent than any time before ever since the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian resistance factions took place over five and half months ago.

Israel allows entry of whatever is necessary to keep the people in Gaza barely alive, Rovera charged, adding that Gazans are deprived of basic food materials and at certain times do not even find bread.

Families do not know whether in the next day their children will have anything to eat, the AI researcher said, adding that even if foodstuff is available in the Strip the people lack gas and/or electricity to cook it.

She said that the whole crisis is man made, pointing out that relief material and foodstuff are about to rot in stores only a few kilometers away from the Strip due to the gate closed by the Israeli army.

“There is no acceptable reason to prevent the passage of basic humanitarian assistance and basic materials” into the Strip, she elaborated.

Rovera added that the infrastructure in Gaza was rapidly deteriorating due to the lack of fuel, electricity and spare parts, and warned that hospitals are in great shortage of basic materials. She noted that tens of Palestinian patients have died over the past year in the Strip while they could have been saved if they were allowed to travel for treatment abroad.