By IRNA,
London : Israel must end its suffocating blockade of the Gaza Strip, which leaves more than 1.4 million Palestinians cut off from the outside world and struggling with desperate poverty, Amnesty International said Monday.
“The blockade is strangling virtually every aspect of life for Gaza’s population, more than half of whom are children,” said Malcolm Smart, Middle East and North Africa Director of Amnesty.
“The increasing isolation and suffering of the people of Gaza cannot be allowed to continue. The Israeli government must comply with binding legal obligation, as the occupying power, to lift the blockade without further delay,” Smart warned.
The London-based human rights group marked the first anniversary of latest Israel’s military offensive in Gaza in which more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, by publishing a new briefing paper ‘Suffocating: The Gaza Strip under Israeli blockade.’
The report gathered testimony from Palestinians still struggling to rebuild their lives in the continuing siege that followed Israel’s wanton destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure.
“Israel claims that the ongoing blockade of Gaza, in force since June 2007, is a response to the indiscriminate rocket attacks launched from Gaza into southern Israel by Palestinian armed groups,” Smart said.
“The reality is that the blockade does not target armed groups but rather punishes Gaza’s entire population by restricting the entry of food, medical supplies, educational equipment and building materials,” he said.
Amnesty warned the siege “constitutes collective punishment under international law and must be lifted immediately.”
“As the occupying power, Israel has a duty under international law to ensure the welfare of Gaza’s inhabitants, including their rights to health, education, food and adequate housing,” it said.