The Israeli authorities have reduced the amounts of wheat allowed into the Gaza Strip. According to the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),
lower quantities of wheat grain and animal feed have been allowed to
enter Gaza during the past few months. Between January and May 2010 the
64,237 tons were allowed to enter Gaza through a special conveyer belt
at Karni Crossing. Since June 2010, the Israeli authorities allowed only
48,609 tons into Gaza.
Wheat
is allowed to enter Gaza only through the Karni Crossing. This crossing
operates for two days a week. The conveyer belt used to bring in wheat
grain during the two days it opened. However, Israel has started to
allocate only one day for wheat grain and animal feed while the other
day has been allocated to bring in construction materials for approved
housing projects implemented by UN agencies. Al Mezan is concerned by
the ongoing decline in the amounts of wheat grain and animal feed
allowed to enter Gaza under the siege conditions that continue to
reflect insensitivity toward the needs and welfare of Gaza population.
The
reduction of amounts of wheat and animal feed harms the direct
humanitarian needs of Gaza population.
During the past years, the
Israeli continuous closures imposed on the Gaza Strip have prevented
Palestinians from keeping any strategic stockpile of basic commodities;
including wheat grain. Within a few days the signs of scarcity of wheat
and animal feed started to appear in Gaza. Lines of people waiting for
bread in front of bakeries have started to form around Gaza’s towns and
refugee camps. The prices of meat and chicken; already expensive for
most of Gaza’s impoverished population, have also started to increase.
Other
human rights problems are also caused by the reduction of these two
commodities; including an increase in poverty and unemployment. Many
Palestinians have lost their jobs in work related these materials.
According to information obtained by Al Mezan, Gaza’s six mills have run
out of the wheat grain stocks and decreased their working hours by
half. Livestock and animal breeders have also made plans to reduce their
production in order to avoid dramatic losses due to death of their
birds and animals or high prices of animal feed.
Israel
has continued to close all of Gaza’s crossings and prevent free
movement for people, exacerbating the humanitarian situation in the
Strip. In particular, tens of thousands families who houses were
destroyed by the Israeli forces continue to suffer from the lack of
construction materials. This situation foils the efforts to improve the
economic and social conditions in Gaza, especially throughout reducing
poverty and unemployment rates which have reached points that are among
the lowest internationally.
Al
Mezan Center for Human Rights expresses its concern by the situation
described above. It strongly condemns the collective punishment measures
imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip, which affects civilian life, but
particularly impacts heavily upon the poor, the sick and children. Al
Mezan asserts that the ongoing Israeli siege and the restriction of the
movement of civilians and commodities; including construction materials,
food, health-related materials, provides yet further evidence that the
siege of Gaza is continuing and devastating the human rights of its
population.
Al
Mezan calls upon the international community to intervene to secure a
full lifting of the Israeli illegal siege on Gaza. Movement of people
and commodities in and from the Gaza Strip must be ensured without
restrictions. The international community must not tolerate the siege
measures, nor should it accept an ‘easing’ of the siege, which has
proved to represent only an entrenching of the siege.
Ends
