A flotilla of protest

Dara Gantly believes unimpeded access into the Gaza Strip of life-saving medical supplies is long overdue

The return home earlier this week of the Irish crew of the MV Rachel Corrie — and the tragic killing by Israeli commandos of nine activists in the aid flotilla attempting to break the blockade on Gaza – has focussed the world’s attention on the plight of the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
Whether you view the humanitarian aid convoy as a ‘Freedom Flotilla’ or a ‘voyage of hate’ [as one Israeli minister did], the facts behind the blockage are stark, and the evidence of its impact on the population’s health indisputable.
Disrupted power, water and sanitation services are greatly impacting on the delivery of healthcare. The territory’s second biggest hospital, the Gaza-European Hospital, operates with two out of its three elevators not functioning due to disrepair.
All hospitals have been waiting for more than six months to get spare parts to repair their main sterilisers; parts needed for the cardiac catheterisation laboratories in the Gaza-European Hospital have also been waiting to enter for six months. As one would expect, there are often shortages of essential medicines, with between 15 and 20 per cent of such drugs commonly out of stock.
Indeed, hundreds of items of equipment have been waiting to enter Gaza for up to a year, procured by the WHO and other organisations, according to Mr Tony Laurance, head of WHO’s office for Gaza and the West Bank. These items include: CT scanners, x-rays, fluoroscopes, infusion pumps, medical sterilisation gases, laboratory equipment, UPS (uninterrupted power supply) batteries, and spare parts for support systems like elevators.
Many specialised treatments (e.g. for complex heart surgery and certain types of cancer) are just unavailable in the Gaza Strip. The WHO has reported that patients referred for treatment to hospitals outside Gaza have had their applications for exit permits denied or delayed by Israeli authorities and have missed their appointments. Several have died while waiting for referral, it states.
The blockade is also impeding healthcare workers. The inability for medical staff to leave the territory for training impacts greatly on the level of healthcare available for Gazans. Similarly, medical technicians are often unable to acquire the latest expertise to maintain hospital equipment, much of which falls into disrepair due to spare parts not being available.
In the normal course of events, medical equipment must be tested regularly for safety – for example, defibrillators must be tested twice a year. However, normality is not the Gaza ‘norm’. The instruments needed for checking must be recalibrated annually in specialised laboratories outside Gaza, hence the inability to send such equipment outside the Strip means it has not been possible to conduct these safety tests.
So will the UN Human Rights Council’s resolution calling upon Israel to ensure “the unimpeded provision of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel, and medical treatment to the occupied Gaza Strip” be adhered to? Of course Israel has a right to prevent Hamas bringing rockets, missiles or explosives into Gaza; but it does not have a right to stop IV bags.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has described recent events as a “watershed” in terms of the future of the blockade.
Let us hope he is right.