International Organizations and bodies are urged to assume their responsibilities towards lifting the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip
 

Palestine Red Crescent Society

16/12/2007

The Israeli occupying Power is intensifying their illegitimate measures against the Gaza Strip, tightening the blockade imposed on it and cutting off vital supplies indispensable to the survival of the civilian population including medicine, food, electricity and fuel. This blockade is leading to an increasing deterioration in all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip, presaging an inevitable humanitarian catastrophe.

Blockade measures have taken a dangerous turn following a ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court to allow a severe cut in vital supplies entering the Gaza strip, as well as due to the continuous closure of border crossings and the increasing number of Palestinians stuck on the borders. According to various local and international sources, the disastrous results of this blockade can now be clearly observed. Regarding the health situation, the blockade has led to the death of 37 Palestinians who were prevented from leaving the Gaza Strip for treatment. An additional 1500 Palestinians suffering from kidney failure, cancer and heart diseases might face the same destiny. 300 patients need to leave the Gaza Strip for urgent treatment given the limited medical services provided in Gaza.

PRCS affirms that these measures constitute a collective punishment of Gaza’s population, reprisals against protected persons and affect their livelihoods and subsistence indispensable for their survival. As such, they amount to genocide. Moreover, these measures constitute grave breaches and a war crime according to International Humanitarian Law which legally applies to the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Gaza Strip, notwithstanding the Disengagement Plan, its declaration as a ‘hostile entity’ and all Israeli unilateral acts, maintains its legal status as an occupied land. As such, Israel, i.e. the occupying power, is ultimately legally responsible towards the Gaza Strip. Hence, Israel has a responsibility to cover the needs of Palestinians living under occupation and to protect their rights guaranteed by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, under which they are considered as “protected persons”.

Based on the above, PRCS, as a national humanitarian Society and a member of the International Red Cross/Crescent Movement calls upon the international community represented by UN Security Council and General Assembly, States Parties to the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC, UNRWA and the OHCHR to assume their legal and moral responsibilities towards Palestinians. PRCS urges these parties to take the necessary prompt measures to compel Israeli occupation authorities to lift the blockade imposed on the Gaza strip, to provide it with basic supplies of fuel, food and medicine, to facilitate the movement of Palestinians, and to put an end to all measures and policies contradict with IHL rules. It is high time for these organizations to develop their working methods and mechanisms in order to face Israeli occupation violations in a more effective manner and to provide protection to Palestinians as long as they live under occupation.