Holy Land: President of Caritas Jerusalem describes Gaza as 'open-air prison'

Father Raed Abusahlia

Father Raed Abusahlia, Director General of Caritas Jerusalem has expressed his shock at conditions in Gaza, after a visit with a delegation of the local Caritas groups, to the Gaza Strip which is governed by Hamas Islamists.

"I was shocked by the level of poverty that I saw in Gaza. The Strip continues to be an open-air prison, closed by the sea, the embargo of Israel and now Egypt", Fr Raed said.

The mission's report, released by Fr Raed, is a cry of alarm, he said. The embargo imposed by Israel is crushing the population. Nearly a third live below the poverty line. Now even the underground tunnels that connected the territory to Egypt have almost all been blocked by the Egyptian Government.

He said: "The coasts of Gaza are already an ecological disaster which may release at any moment infections and epidemics: all discharges end up in the sea, the water is black and gives off a foul smell, the fish are all dead and the fishermen cannot go fishing in the open sea because of the embargo. There is no gasoline, electricity goes off for hours and hours creating emergency situations in hospitals".

The Gaza Strip - subject to embargo by Israel since 2007 - is 41 km long and between six and 12 km wide. In that strip of land one million and 700 thousand inhabitants are concentrated. The Caritas delegation led by Fr Raed, handed over a large amount of specialist medicines to the local health authority.

Part of the stock of medicines was delivered directly to the Anglican Hospital. During their stay in Gaza, the delegation visited structures and initiatives directly managed by Caritas: Medical Centres in the refugee camps and the mobile clinic, where 18 workers are employed as well as a centre for artificial limbs (many civilians and children lost arms and legs during Israel's recent bombardment).

They met psychologists working with children traumatized by the bombing. They also saw the work of groups of volunteers in charge of distributing food parcels and small amounts of money to more than two thousand families who have had their homes.

"In that situation of daily suffering the initiatives of Christians, their parishes and international agencies animated by them are an eloquent sign of witness and solidarity with all the people" said Fr Raed.

The delegation was also able to take note of the action of the autonomous government in the hands of Hamas and social control exercised over the population by the Islamist political leadership which has been in power for seven years. "Wandering the streets", notes Fr Raed Abusahlia - the question arises: is this the State of Palestine or the emirate of Gaza? As a Palestinian I hope that the division will end soon and all embargoes removed. These people deserve to live".

Source Fides