Madison-Rafah Journal

The number of patients who have died in the Gaza Strip due to the year-long Israeli siege has reached 240, as one more patient dies today

Rula Shahwan, IMEMC News, 22 August 2008

File 2008

Medical sources reported the death of a 2-year-old infant as his parents were banned from leaving the Gaza strip to seek the needed medical treatment for their child.

Hundreds of patients in Gaza are liable to die if they do no get immediate life-saving treatment. As the siege continues there remains a serious shortage of medical supplies available.

Israel has blocked the Gaza Strip tight since Hamas won the elections in January 2006, yet some Palestinian patients and students were allowed to move between Gaza Strip and Egypt through the Rafah terminal, the only passage for Gazans to the outside world.

Since Hamas took over the government in the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Israel tightened the siege on the Gaza Strip and made it harder for Palestinians to move. The restrictions include movement of people and products to and from the Gaza Strip.

Since the unilateral disengagement plan in September 2005, Israel left the Rafah terminal; however, it maintained control over it through European observers whose presence at the terminal became a must for the terminal to be opened.