Chronic malnutrition in Gaza blamed on Israel
Donald Macintyre reveals the contents of an explosive report by the Red Cross on a humanitarian tragedy
Donald Macintyre, The Independent, 15 November 2008
AFP/GETTY/MAHMUD HAMS
It chronicles the “devastating” effect of the siege that Israel imposed after Hamas seized control in June 2007 and notes that the dramatic fall in living standards has triggered a shift in diet that will damage the long-term health of those living in Gaza and has led to alarming deficiencies in iron, vitamin A and vitamin D.
The 46-page report from the International Committee of the Red Cross – seen by The Independent – is the most authoritative yet on the impact that Israel’s closure of crossings to commercial goods has had on Gazan families and their diets.
MIDEAST: On Top of Humanitarian Disaster, A News Blackout
By Cherrie Heywood, Inter Press Service, 18 November 2008
A baby in Shifa hospital in Gaza struggles against illness and lack of medicines and electricity. Credit:Cherrie Heywood
Steve Gutkin, the AP bureau chief in Jerusalem and head of Israel’s Foreign Press Association, said that he personally “knows of no foreign journalist that has been allowed into Gaza in the last week.”
Gutkin said that “while Israel has barred foreign press from entering Gaza in the past, the length of the current ban makes it unprecedented.” He added that he has received no “plausible or acceptable” explanation for the ban from the Israeli government.
AP has relied on reports from two of its journalists who were able to enter Gaza days before the closure began and are currently stuck there.
Gaza’s children suffering from malnutrition- 8 June 08
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