 | Does that mean they shouldn't pull out? Make up your damned mind! |
A humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip is looming, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan might be the final nail in the coffin, an Israeli report has warned. Dozens of Palestinians may die if Israel does not act to ensure their medical care after a planned military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip later this year, according to the report by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel. Israel's current position is that it is not responsible for the fate of patients in Gaza, and is willing, at best, "to take into account humanitarian considerations" and "exceptional cases", without explaining what these may constitute, says the medical rights group.
| About like we feel about the plight of patients in Mexico... |
"Past and present experience shows that Israel does not interpret urgent medical need in a manner consonant with the accepted definition among medical professionals," said the report, titled The Morning After, which was released Thursday.
| Does that make any sense to anybody? Bueller? |
The Gaza health system is strained to serve about 1.5 million people. According to PHR, there is one bed per 715 people in Gaza hospitals, a rate almost a quarter that of the lowest acceptable standard in the Israeli healthcare system.
| But they're not part of the Israeli healthcare system, are they? They're part of the Paleostinian healthcare system. You know, those guys who demand to be their own government? Who want to have their own state? |
In addition, a number of services, including catheterisation and cardiac surgery, burn treatments, neurosurgery, radiotherapy, eye operations and organ transplants are unavailable in the war-torn coastal strip.
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