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Gaza facing 'total collapse'
22/01/2008 20:08 - (SA)
Geneva - International aid agencies warned on Tuesday that the Gaza Strip is at risk of a "total collapse" of its infrastructure as Israel's economic blockade left it without vital power and food supplies.
"There is a major risk of a total collapse of all the infrastructure," said Dorothea Krimitsas, spokesperson for the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC).
"The blockade measures have an enormous human cost and we have asked Israel to immediately lift all retaliatory measures," she said.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak had ordered the coastal strip sealed off in response to rockets fired by Hamas activists into the Jewish state, but there are mounting international fears of a humanitarian crisis.
"The population finds itself hostage to this conflict and is suffering the most serious consequences," with hospitals under particular strain given the lack of supplies and electricity, Krimitsas said.
"Many medicines are lacking and need to be restocked, otherwise hospitals will have to close," she warned.
Her concerns were echoed by the head of the UN children's agency UNICEF. Executive director Anne Veneman said she was "very concerned" at the situation of children in Gaza.
"We are very concerned about the situation of children in Gaza ... children are always the victims in times of conflict," Veneman said at the launch of UNICEF's annual report on the state of the world's children.
UNICEF was particularly worried about hospitals' ability to refrigerate vaccines, and the difficulty both patients and medical supplies faced trying to pass through Israeli military checkpoints in the territory, she added.
The ICRC said it was hoping to deliver one truckload of medical supplies to Gaza later on Tuesday after Israel eased the blockade.
The Gaza Strip has been outside the control of the Palestinian Authority for seven months, ever since the Islamist Hamas movement routed forces loyal to the authority's president Mahmud Abbas.
- AFP
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