PA SENDS MEDICAL SUPPLIES TO GAZA

Ramallah, 20 Ramadhan 1436/7 Juli 2015 (MINA) – The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health shipped eight truckloads of medicine and medical equipment to the Gaza Strip on Monday, the ministry said in a statement.

The medicines are worth around 4 million shekels ($1 million), and include medicine for chronic diseases as well as venous solutions and antibiotics. Included in the shipment are 400,000 shekels worth of medical consumables.

The shipments were loaded from the ministry’s stores in Nablus in the northern West Bank. Ma’an News Agency reports as quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

The Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007, suffers a severe shortage of medical supplies as well as equipment.

Israeli bombings on the coastal enclave during last summer’s war damaged or destroyed 17 hospitals, 56 primary healthcare facilities and 45 ambulances, according to reports by Medical Aid for Palestine.

Tension between Hamas and the Fatah-dominated PA has also been detrimental to the supply of aid.

In December last year, the Ministry of Health accused Hamas officials in Gaza of stealing medicines and supplies sent to Gaza.

The ministry also said that assistance to Gaza was causing serious shortages in the West Bank.

Medical supplies have also reached Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah crossing, although the crossing has rarely been opened in the last year. (T/P010/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)