The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Thursday warned on Thursday of a “crisis of hope” in Gaza calling the humanitarian situation in the blockaded Palestinian enclave “dire”.
At the end of a three-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories Peter Maurer said conditions in Gaza were worsening by the day with the two million residents getting only three or four hours of mains electricity a day.
Maurer said the power shortage had led to a water and sewage crisis which in turn is having serious effects on the health system.
“While we can always argue on who did take what decision for what reason the humanitarian consequences for the people of Gaza are dire and are really unacceptable” he said at a press conference in Occupied Jerusalem.
He said a “crisis of hope” in Gaza and among Palestinians generally was “the most lasting impression that I take away” from the trip.
Maurer further issued a scathing condemnation of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank describing them as a key reason for Palestinian suffering.
Wrapping up a three-day visit to the region he said settlement expansion is leading to a “de-facto annexation” of the West Bank.
“The settlement enterprise goes against the provisions and the spirit of international humanitarian law the law of occupation as we call it” he stated.
“We witness it daily in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem: it has enormous impact on people on their freedom of movement the social and economic fabric in the territories. It offers limited access to agricultural and other productive lands has curtailed educational and employment opportunity; it makes water resource and water supply systems difficult for Palestinian communities. And the list could go on and on” he said.
Israel has maintained a crippling blockade on Gaza for the past decade while Egypt has also closed off its border in recent years both citing security pretexts.
Already dire humanitarian circumstances have been exacerbated in recent months by Abbas’s Palestinian Authority seeking to squeeze Hamas resistance movement reducing the amount it pays for electricity to be piped to Gaza among other measures.
