Tuesday, November 7, 2006

stories from north of Gaza

An Update From Dr. Mona El-Farra

"Sunday, 5 November 2006

I am really worried about the situation in the north of Gaza. After a quick assessment of the situation and being personally unable to enter the village, I decided to send the baby milk with the UN. I am pleased to let you know that on the 5th day of the siege, the MECA office in Gaza managed to send 300 packets of baby milk to Beit Hanoun with the United Nations Relief Work Agency (UNRWA) team. They managed to get permission to enter the village with a convoy. It was not easy to coordinate this entry into the village, and took a lot of time. The curfew was lifted for 2 hours, so the convoy had to arrive to the village during that time.

I am sending some more baby milk with the World Food Program (WFP) team tomorrow. And I also coordinated for medications and medical supplies to be provided for patients with chronic diseases via the Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC).

People are starving; they have no water or electricity or telecommunications. Vast areas of fertile productive land have been destroyed. This incursion came on top of the collapsed economic situation for all Palestinians inside Gaza. Al-Awda Hospital’s teams can reach the village outskirts where it is also very dangerous, but medical rescue teams are not allowed inside the village without a very high level of coordination. Nobody is allowed in or out of the village.

MECA office gave a blanket for each of the injured women who were inside the Al-Awda Hospital, who were injured during the peaceful demonstration aimed to break the siege and free the men inside the mosque. I visited the women inside the hospital the same day just straightaway after the demonstration.

A lot of humanitarian relief is needed at the moment and families need practical support."

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