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Israeli Siege Leaves Gaza Isolated and Desperate
Jobless Palestinians hold up bread during a protest outside parliament last week in Gaza City. Since the radical Islamic movement Hamas won elections in January, Israel has enforced a blockade against Gaza and foreign aid has been cut.
(By Hatem Moussa -- Associated Press)
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The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 202 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its "Operation Summer Rain" after Shalit's abduction. The Palestinian Health Ministry puts the figure at 246.
Capt. Noa Meir, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said: "It's a very complicated combat area. Just like in Lebanon, they are using civilians as human shields. We do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties."
The deteriorating situation has forced many foreigners to leave. UNRWA moved its headquarters from Gaza to Jerusalem in October, and most of its 78 international staff members left with it. Other aid agencies have done the same. A spate of kidnappings, including the 13-day captivity of two Fox News journalists released Sunday, has reduced the numbers of aid workers and foreign reporters here. An Israeli missile attack Sunday on a truck with "TV" marked in large black letters seriously wounded two Reuters journalists.
"It's really depressing. I don't know how people are managing," said Tom Garofalo, the country director for Catholic Relief Services.
Gaza has been under pressure at least since the 1967 war, when the Israeli army seized the area from Egypt. But the siege is taking its toll, even on a populace accustomed to isolation, Garofalo said.
"There's more and more internal conflicts between families, more and more basic crime," he said. "The Palestinian Authority is trying to maintain order. But around the edges, things crumble. Desperation drives people to do things they wouldn't normally do. There is less respect for security."
Israeli fighter bombers made a pinpoint attack June 28 on Gaza's power plant, a modern 140-megawatt station built with international aid in 2001 that provided about half the power for the Gaza Strip. Now, power bought from Israel provides service for only about six to eight hours daily for most residents. Water service, dependent on electric pumps, is also sporadic.
UNRWA and the U.N. World Food Program are providing food to more than 1 million Palestinians. Aid agencies have created short make-work programs, but thousands of people apply for each job. The agencies have given out cash and fuel to needy families.
"People are not starving or emaciated. But that's not what it's about," said Ging, the UNWRA director of operations. "It's about having 1.4 million people who have no job, no money, no prospects and an acute sense of imprisonment. You have children growing up in a violent and uncivilized society, without the things most countries would take for granted as a normal existence."
At the Gaza market, Mohammed Abdul Rahman, 36, picked carefully through the stalls looking for school supplies for his four children. A government worker, he has not been paid since March, he said. He borrowed money from a bank, but now that is due.
"It's a very, very bad situation," he said. "As a father, it's hard to tell my kids that I can't get what they need. The pressure at home is rising. Everyone feels it. I think there will be a massive strike, and the whole thing will explode. We can't keep living like this."
