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PCHR Calls On the International Community to Prevent a
Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza
Date: 21 January 2008
Time: 09:30 GMT
At approximately 20:00 on Sunday, January 20th,
the Gaza Strip power plant ran out of fuel and shut
down, plunging the Gaza Strip into darkness. The closure
of the Gaza power plant, in addition to Israel's
continuing tightened siege of the Gaza Strip, will have
a catastrophic effect on the 1.5 million residents of
Gaza, who are already suffering chronic shortages of
fuel, medicine and some basic food stuffs. The Director
of Gaza's main Shiffa hospital describes the current
situation as "Potentially disastrous."
Israel is manufacturing a catastrophic humanitarian
crisis in the Gaza Strip that is seriously deteriorating
every aspect of civilian life. To date, fourty five
patients have died as a direct result of Israeli
Occupying Force (IOF) closure and siege of the Gaza
Strip. According to the Director of Shiffa Hospital, Dr
Hassan Khalaf, patient's lives continue to be at stake,
including the lives of 30 premature babies in Shiffa
Hospital, who will die immediately if there is a power
cut at the hospital. Gaza's second major hospital, the
European Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza
Strip, has now suspended all major surgical operations.
Meanwhile, all borders from Gaza to the outside world
remain sealed to Palestinians.
The Gaza Strip requires 230-250 megawatts of electricity
a day to operate at full capacity. On Friday, January 18th,
and again on Sunday, January 20th, the IOF
prevented a vital daily delivery of fuel from passing
through the Nahal Oz Crossing, including industrial
diesel used to fuel the power plant. The power plant is
now completely closed. This closure of Gaza's only power
plant has drastically reduced electricity output across
the Gaza Strip by 65 megawatts. Civilians across Gaza
city and the central Gaza Strip are totally dependent on
the power plant. The closure of the power plant will
severely impact on civilian lives across the Gaza Strip.
In addition to the dangerous shortage of electricity
that threatens the lives of critically ill patients in
all of Gaza's' hospitals, chronic shortages of petrol
and diesel and gas for domestic use have led to panic
buying before gas stations in Gaza are forced to close
completely. Civilians are also suffering widespread
shortages of bread, due to lack of electricity to power
the ovens at bakeries across Gaza.
PCHR condemns the catastrophic humanitarian crisis that
is being manufactured by the IOF as collective
punishment to the entire population of the Gaza Strip,
and calls upon the International Community to put
immediate pressure on the Government of Israel to avert
a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. The Centre
appeals to the international community to act upon their
legal and moral responsibilities to ensure the basic
human rights of the citizens of the Gaza Strip are
protected.
The Centre reiterates that Palestinian civilians are
protected from collective punishment under international
human rights law, and international humanitarian law,
including the Fourth Geneva Convention.
PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the
Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfil their legal and moral
obligations under Article 1 of the Convention, to ensure
Israel's respect for the Convention in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory. PCHR believes that the conspiracy
of silence practised by the international community has
encouraged Israel to act as if it is above the law and
encourages Israel to violate international human rights
and humanitarian law.
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