MEPs call on Israel to allow entry of anti-coronavirus medical supplies into Gaza

Two dozen lawmakers of the European Parliament have signed a petition launched by a rights group, calling on the Israeli regime to allow immediate entry of necessary equipment and medical supplies into the besieged Gaza Strip to assist in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a press release on Monday, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor welcomed the signing of the petition by 24 members of the European Union (EU)'s law-making body, the Palestinian Information Center reported.

The Geneva-based rights monitor noted that the MEPs expressed concern about the latest surge in COVID-19 cases in the impoverished enclave, which has been under a tight Israeli blockade from land, air, and sea since 2007.

The legislators called for immediate measures to be taken to facilitate the entry of preventive supplies, including face masks and intensive care units, into the densely-populated Palestinian territory, which is home to some two million people.

According to the rights monitor, the health system in the enclave is dilapidated and most medical supplies and equipment have been depleted, with a deficit exceeding 30 percent and an occupancy rate for intensive care beds that reached 90 percent.

“The international community is required to take decisive action to facilitate the entry of medical supplies, allocate part of the coronavirus vaccines to the Strip, and end the Israeli blockade imposed on the largest open prison in the world,” said the rights monitor, Rami Abdu.

He added that the situation in Gaza is no longer acceptable and that the World Health Organization (WHO) must ensure that Palestinians in the impoverished enclave receive decent health care.

The petition also sought to raise awareness of the alarming health situation in Gaza as the pandemic rages across the territory.

Just recently, several patients, who contracted the contagious disease, lost their lives while waiting for the lengthy procedures to obtain transit permits to Israel and Egypt to seek treatment abroad.

“This requires an immediate international intervention to save the Palestinians”, Abdu stressed, as many health facilities have been destroyed during the repeated Israeli attacks on the enclave.

The lawmakers of the European Parliament further urged all parties to the conflict in Gaza to save the civilians from the plight of COVID-19 and to put their differences aside.

Separately on Monday, Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kailah announced that in the previous 24 hours, eleven people had died of COVID-19 and 280 new cases of infection had been documented.

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