Consequences of the PMRS bombing on the healthsystem in Gaza.

The massacre that the Israeli military has been inflicting upon the civilians of the Gaza strip during the last couple of days is one of rarely seen proportions. Over one hundred people were killed in just a few days time, hundreds of others injured, the vast majority of them unarmed citizens. This indiscriminate slaughtering of men, women and children was the most violent Israeli attack on Gaza in several years, but for the people living there, it’s just another cause of suffering.
Years of occupation, violence and bloodshed have totally exhausted the 1.5 million citizens who are living as prisoners in this tiny strip of land. Since Hamas took over power in the Gaza strip, and Israel and the international community imposed very severe sanctions, the living conditions of the Gazans have even more deteriorated, to a level far below the humanitarian minimum.

Magali Thill, active in the Spanish NGO ACSUR, was in Gaza last week to examine a future cooperation project between ACSUR and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS).

Magali’s delegation nearly decided to spend the night in the PMRS Gaza head-offices, luckily they were offered a hotel room instead, as these offices got bombed later that night, together with the ministry of interior.
The bombing of that night turned out to be the start of the cruel Israeli military campaign in Gaza which left over one hundred dead in 3 days.

Magali explains how this recent violence, including the bombing of the PMRS offices, affects the health situation in Gaza and how she interprets these events.

Inside the bombed office.

Photo: Palestine Monitor

The Health System in Gaza

About the health system in Gaza, Magali says: “The public health facilities are not able to respond to the needs of the people, there is a lack of resources, money and personnel”. She distinguishes two causes for this problematic situation. The Israeli blockade of the Gazastrip is the first part of the problem, the Hamas-Fatah rivalry is the second.
While the blockade makes the lives of the people in Gaza unbearable and creates a shortage of provisions (including medical supplies), the rivalry between the two major Palestinian political factions causes a further derailment of the health system in Gaza. According to Magali, this political discord is being felt on every level of society. While politicians argue over power, about 2500 health workers in Gaza have stopped receiving salaries from the Fatah government in the West Bank. A great amount of this medical personnel in Gaza however, started working from their homes instead of the hospitals or practices they once belonged to.
As the ongoing Israeli blockade creates more suffering every day, and the public health system does not respond to the needs, healthcare NGO’s are trying to relief the biggest needs of the population.

PMRS is one of the biggest NGO’s in this field, and tries to provide primary and secondary healthcare to the Palestinians, independent from any political or ideological influence. Unfortunately, even organisations such as PMRS are not safe for Israeli attacks, as proved the bombing of the head offices, destroying one mobile clinic, the offices themselves and all the equipment and medicine. The destroyed mobile clinic was more than just an ambulance, as it carried equipment for womens health, a test lab, and other facilities for secondary healthcare.

The destruction of this equipment means a great loss to PMRS and to the population of Gaza. But Magali knows that PMRS will continue to work, and that even in the most difficult circumstances they will try their best to meet the needs of the Gazans. After all, the Palestinians are used to work in harsh conditions.

Israel’s responsibility and the need for international action

Magali is convinced that Israel knows perfectly what building houses which institution or NGO, and they know very well what damage will be caused. By bombing the ministry of interior, the Israeli army was well aware of the impending destruction of the PMRS offices.
Deliberately destroying medical equipment is a war crime, and thereby Israel should be punished. Magali points out that this is actually just one more example of the war crimes Israel has been committing towards the Palestinian population.

The PMRS mobile clinic destroyed by the Israeli airstrike

Photo: Palestine Monitor

“It is an international responsibility to sanction Israel for its continuing aggression towards the Palestinians, and the methods of collective punishment it uses in the Gaza strip. The EU and other international actors have to practice as they preach, and start exerting pressure on Israel”, Magali says. In this respect, she suggests the international use of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

International action towards Israel is now more than ever needed, Magali explains, because the people of Gaza feel abandoned by the whole world.
Magali’s thoughts about this issue: “These people live in a ghetto, and they have no hope for a better future. In a situation where even humanitarian aid organisations get bombed, no one is safe, there is no security in the Gaza strip, 1,5 million citizens live in constant danger and fear”.

Magali concludes with expressing a very deep respect for all the health workers who are still working in these extremely difficult circumstances, indifferent of any political ideology.

Photo: Palestine Monitor