GAZA STRIP (Dispatches) – A ban by the Zionist regime on the entry of medical equipment into the Gaza Strip is putting the lives of hundreds of patients at risk, Palestinian authorities have warned.
Health Ministry official Ibrahim Abbas said Zionist authorities refuse to allow medical equipment, including diagnostic devices, into Gaza.
“Lack of medical service puts the lives of hundreds of patients at risk,” he warned.
“For several months, the Israeli occupation has prevented the entry of medical devices into Gaza, including those specialized in imaging and diagnosis,” Abbas said, stressing that the number of patients affected daily by the lack of medical imaging devices stood at 350 patients in various hospitals across the blockaded strip.
“The imaging devices in Gaza hospitals are currently suffering from problems and are difficult to repair due to the lack of spare parts and equipment required for maintenance,” he said, adding that the lack of such services “delays the diagnosis of hundreds of patients, which increases the risk to their lives.”
The Palestinian official added that the ban also makes it difficult to repair medical devices due to lack of spare parts.
Abbas appealed to the international community and human rights groups to immediately intervene to pressure the regime to allow the entry of medical equipment to save the lives of Palestinian patients in Gaza.
Home to 2.3 million population, the Gaza Strip has been reeling under a years-long blockade by the Zionist regime and Egypt since 2007, badly affecting livelihood in the territory.
As a result of the siege, unemployment levels in Gaza are among the highest in the world, and as many as 1.3 million out of the Palestinians in Gaza (62 percent) require food assistance as well, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).