The van carrying supplies stopped at the Rafah crossing. (Eva Barlett)
Eva Bartlett writing from Cairo, Egypt, Live from Palestine, 29 July 2008
"Ten days after setting out from Edinburgh, and five days past their projected 15 July arrival, Scottish humanitarian Khalil al-Niss and his wife Linda Willis finally arrived in the afternoon of 20 July to the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border only to be denied entry to Gaza.
The Gazan side, just over 100 meters from the Egyptian gate and Israeli-built wall, is visible from where the couple's van sits idle; doctors inside Gaza wait for the expected delivery of essential medical aid.......
Impact of siege
The Gaza-based Popular Committee Against the Siege (PCAS) last reported the number of victims who had died preventable deaths as a result of unattainable medical care under the siege as 212, the latest two victims including an 11-month-old infant and a 44-year-old father of eight. Both died after being denied permits to exit Gaza for treatment.
PCAS lists 107 classes of basic medicines that are depleted in Gaza, 97 more nearing depletion, 136 halted or not functioning medical instruments and over 1,500 patients who need to leave the Strip for medical treatment.
Despite the 19 June agreement to halt Israeli military operations, invasions, and indiscriminate shelling on Gaza, in return for an end to the launching of homemade rockets from Gaza towards Israel, Israel has not met its obligations in opening the borders with Gaza and allowing in adequate amounts of food, medical supplies, construction materials, fuel, and other vital elements denied to the civilian population for over one year.
Instead, the opening of Rafah, and the passage of goods into Gaza via other crossings, has been put on hold, used as a bargaining tool for the release of the Israeli solider being held in Gaza, even though his release was not part of the ceasefire agreement.
Willis and al-Niss remain hopeful that they will enter and bear witness, deliver aid and a message that the siege is inhumane, and if the international political community won't do anything to end it, civilians will.
Their success may be echoed by the efforts of a team of over 50 internationals, including Israelis, who aim to reach Gaza's coast by sea next month.
Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, an organizer of the Free Gaza Movement to break the siege by boat, hopes like Willis and al-Niss, to "remind the world that we will not stand by and watch 1.5 million people suffer [to] death by starvation and disease.""
"Ten days after setting out from Edinburgh, and five days past their projected 15 July arrival, Scottish humanitarian Khalil al-Niss and his wife Linda Willis finally arrived in the afternoon of 20 July to the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border only to be denied entry to Gaza.
The Gazan side, just over 100 meters from the Egyptian gate and Israeli-built wall, is visible from where the couple's van sits idle; doctors inside Gaza wait for the expected delivery of essential medical aid.......
Impact of siege
The Gaza-based Popular Committee Against the Siege (PCAS) last reported the number of victims who had died preventable deaths as a result of unattainable medical care under the siege as 212, the latest two victims including an 11-month-old infant and a 44-year-old father of eight. Both died after being denied permits to exit Gaza for treatment.
PCAS lists 107 classes of basic medicines that are depleted in Gaza, 97 more nearing depletion, 136 halted or not functioning medical instruments and over 1,500 patients who need to leave the Strip for medical treatment.
Despite the 19 June agreement to halt Israeli military operations, invasions, and indiscriminate shelling on Gaza, in return for an end to the launching of homemade rockets from Gaza towards Israel, Israel has not met its obligations in opening the borders with Gaza and allowing in adequate amounts of food, medical supplies, construction materials, fuel, and other vital elements denied to the civilian population for over one year.
Instead, the opening of Rafah, and the passage of goods into Gaza via other crossings, has been put on hold, used as a bargaining tool for the release of the Israeli solider being held in Gaza, even though his release was not part of the ceasefire agreement.
Willis and al-Niss remain hopeful that they will enter and bear witness, deliver aid and a message that the siege is inhumane, and if the international political community won't do anything to end it, civilians will.
Their success may be echoed by the efforts of a team of over 50 internationals, including Israelis, who aim to reach Gaza's coast by sea next month.
Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, an organizer of the Free Gaza Movement to break the siege by boat, hopes like Willis and al-Niss, to "remind the world that we will not stand by and watch 1.5 million people suffer [to] death by starvation and disease.""
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