MarcGopin.com

Please read this account of what is happening in Gaza from seasoned outside observers. The question remains why? No explanation has ever been given why basic materials for life, excluding bomb making materials, have been choked off from over a million human beings. It remains as criminal as the day it began, and it is a travesty that must end.  One can only surmise that the assumption of Israel, and implicitly the West, is that it is ok to continue to punish and hold hostage over a million human beings for the actions of Hamas. So, hostage taking seems to be acceptable, except when Hamas does it? I still am amazed. The only way the rule of law ever succeeds in history is when it is universally applied, everything else is just a game.

Red Cross report: Gazans ‘in despair’

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip has left “1.5 million people in despair,” a Red Cross report said.

The report, released Monday by the International Committee of the Red Cross, says the blockade of the coastal strip is preventing Gaza from rebuilding six months after Israel’s military operation in Gaza. Many homes were damaged or destroyed in the operation.

“Gaza neighborhoods particularly hard hit by the Israeli strikes will continue to look like the epicenter of a massive earthquake unless vast quantities of cement, steel and other building materials are allowed into the territory for reconstruction,” the report said.

It called on Israel to “lift import restrictions on spare parts, water pipes and building materials such as cement and steel so that homes can be rebuilt and vital infrastructure maintained and upgraded.”

The report also criticized the blockade for denying appropriate access to health care for Gazans.

“Health issues in Gaza are often politicized and patients find themselves caught up in a bureaucratic maze,” it said. “The procedures for requesting permission to leave the territory are complicated and involve both the Palestinian and Israeli authorities.”

The report rapped Israel for stopping Red Cross-facilitated visits with their relatives in Israeli prisons, though it made no mention of the fact that Hamas has refused to allow any contact between captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and either the Red Cross or his family. Shalit has been held in Gaza for three years since being abducted in a cross-border raid.

According to the report, “People in Gaza are trapped. Because Israel has shut the crossing points, Gazans have scant opportunity for contact with relatives abroad or for further education or professional training.”

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