Israel cracks down even further on incoming aid to Gaza : NPR

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The health care system in Gaza collapsed after two years of war, and the aid groups say that Israel retracts even more on the life supplies it allows. Jane Arraf of NPR has more.

Jane Arraf, Butline: After two years of Israeli attacks that have destroyed or damaged most hospitals and clinics, one of the largest medical aid providers in Gaza says the conditions are desperate. It is Amande Bazerolle, Emergency Coordinator of Gaza for doctors without borders, also known as MSF.

Amande Bazerolle: Not only is there not enough help, but there are more and more people injured and sick and suffering from malnutrition.

Arraf: Israel, since the start of the war, has restricted food and medicine, saying without evidence that Hamas flies it. The shortages worsened in July after Israel struck a warehouse of the United Nations World Health Organization. The one who says he destroyed most of his medical supplies. Bazerolle says it was catastrophic.

Bazerolle: Adding to all of this, it has already stretched the health system. We are beyond that about to collapse. We are in the collapse at the moment.

Arraf: The Israeli army said it was targeting activists. Recently, Israel has announced new measures. Jordan, a major aid district in Gaza, says that Israel is now charged customs fees for transit assistance trucks on the way to Gaza. It is the Minister of Communications Mohammad al-Momani.

Mohammad al-Momani: Yes, in fact, they ask Jordan trucks to pay. They pay between $ 300 and 400 per truck.

Arraf: Israel did not respond to requests for comments on the reasons why she had started to charge the costs. Momani says that Jordanian aid trucks passing through Israel are systematically attacked by Israeli settlers trying to block the aid, transforming what is normally a three -hour route to Gaza into a test up to 36 hours.

Al-Momani: They throw rocks and sharp objects under the wheels of the trucks, and when the trucks move, in fact, they continue to cope with different obstacles and obstacles.

Arraf: The World Food Program says that at least 600 trucks per day of help are necessary to prevent more people from starving. Israel says that it allows 300 to 400 trucks per day but recognizes that it has commercial trucks that import food as aid. After two years of war, few gasans can afford to buy food on the markets. Famine took place in Gaza last month, seizing a territory where health authorities say that Israeli attacks killed more than 63,000 people and injured at least 160,000, a war that started with an attack on Hamas in Israel almost two years ago which, according to Israel, killed around 1,200 people. There is a new obstacle that is looming – Israel requires that the aid groups will re -register with them this month, providing personal details for all international and local employees and their families. MSF, like most other groups, refused.

Bazerolle: In any other country, we were never asked for this kind of information. We are not informed how they will be used.

Arraf: She said that with so many health workers killed by Israel – 1,500 of them, according to Gaza health officials – they fear that Israel can use the data to target them. It’s not just MSF. More than 100 aid groups have declared in a statement that it would be dangerous and against humanitarian law to comply. The UN says that the requirements would also allow Israel to reject groups that criticize Israeli policy. Israel claims that aid groups opposing the requirements could be linked to Hamas. And that said if they do not conform, it will be arrested.

Jane Arraf, NPR News, Amman.

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