Morning Star :: A tragedy compounded by indifference

Gazans need the help and support of the international community if a genocide is to be avoided, writes ANNE CZERNIK

TONY LAURANCE is Chief Executive of British charity Medical Aid for Palestine (Map). He has worked in Gaza for nearly seven years, first with the World Health Organisation and now with Map.

He tells the Star: You cannot maintain a proper and effective hospital and healthcare system in conditions of siege and isolation. Even though essential medical supplies can be imported, there are other difficulties.

After eight years of siege and military offensives, all the hospitals in Gaza are in a desperate condition.

Laurance says: There has been very little maintenance and the equipment frequently malfunctions. There are power cuts every day lasting up to 18 hours. The generators that they rely upon have not been maintained. They are running short of fuel. Staff dont receive proper training because they are isolated from the rest of the world. They are running short of disposables. The situations not helped by cuts to water supplies. Hospitals have not expanded to cope with a growing population.

He could have gone on, but Id got the picture.

There are some things you can never forget. As a journalist, there are some people you remember for ever.

Just over a week ago, when I spoke to Fikr Shallitt, the medical aid co-ordinator for Map in Gaza City, there was little hope of a lasting ceasefire.

But situations change quickly in Gaza and we have seen the beginning and the end of a settlement.

Some 426 children, 255 women and 1,100 men have died over the past few weeks.

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Morning Star :: A tragedy compounded by indifference