A six-month-old underweight girl with her grandmother in Gaza City. Her father was a medic who was killed during the recent conflict. The child comes two times a week to local NGO Ard El-Insan for nutritional supplements
21 April 2009
Rising poverty, unemployment and food insecurity in Gaza, compounded by the recent 23-day Israeli offensive, have increased the threat of child malnutrition, say UN agencies, health ministry officials and healthcare NGOs in Gaza.
UN World Health Organization (WHO) officials are concerned by the warning signs, including rising malnutrition indicators – like increased cases of stunting, wasting and underweight children – and continuing high rates of anaemia among children and pregnant women.
A Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Food Programme (WFP) qualitative food security assessment for Gaza in 2008 and early 2009 points to increasing food insecurity compared to 2007, said FAO food security adviser Erminio Saco based in Jerusalem; and according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) food acquisition and energy consumption in Gaza declined by 10 percent between 2005 and 2007.
Over the past 18 months the agricultural sector has been struggling to cope with an Israeli blockade on imports and exports, causing lower productivity and reducing access to affordable fresh food, according to FAO.
Stunting
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in January that 10.3 percent of children under five are stunted (low height for age), a steadily increasing trend over recent years.
Stunting is usually attributed to a chronic lack of protein and micronutrients, including iron and essential vitamins, according to WHO. “More than 10 percent of children in Gaza are chronically malnourished,” said WHO officer Mahmoud Daher in Gaza, reporting a slight increase over 2008.
Children’s hygiene has also declined due to the lack of a consistent electricity supply since the blockade was instituted. Clothes washing and bathing has been limited, especially during the conflict, according to residents.
In April 2008 UNICEF estimated there were about 255,000 under-five children in Gaza, with about 26,265 at risk of malnutrition, and 657 most likely to be severely wasted.
Roughly two-thirds of the population – 50 percent of whom are under 18 – is deemed food insecure, according to FAO.
Wasting and underweight
The number of under-five children suffering from acute malnutrition – wasting (low weight for height) – in Gaza almost doubled between 2006 and 2008 from 1.4 to 2.4 percent, according to UNICEF. Wasting is considered a public health problem if the affected population exceeds 5 percent, but WHO is concerned by the significant increase.
In 2008, 2.5 percent of under fives were underweight (weight for age), according to WHO in Gaza.
Karram El-Essy, 10 months old and from the A-Tufah area of Gaza city, is brought to local NGO Ard El-Insan three times a week for nutritional supplements, including soup and fruit, after he was diagnosed with anaemia
Anaemia
“Anaemia among children and pregnant women is high in Gaza and there are fluctuations in the rates according to availability of food and the political and economic situation in the area,” said Daher.
WHO believes iron and vitamin A deficiencies have increased during and since the conflict. The results of WHO’s current anaemia assessment in Gaza are due in May, but according to Daher, 65 percent of children aged 9-12 months, and 35 percent of pregnant women are anaemic.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has an assessment due in July, but is also concerned about the increase in anaemia cases, according to UNRWA health officer Mohammed Maqadma.
There is a positive correlation between malnutrition and low meat (animal proteins) intake, low consumption of fruit, family size and income, according to UNICEF.
The amount of affordable fresh fruit and protein on the Gaza market has been significantly reduced due to the closures, according to OCHA. “The last shipment of livestock entered Gaza on 31 October 2008, and since the Hamas takeover in June 2007 livestock imports have been severely restricted,” said OCHA field officer Hamada al-Bayari in Gaza.
The director of all 56 primary healthcare centres run by the health ministry in Gaza, Fouad Issawi, said cases of stunting and anaemia increased in 2008 and 2009. Since 2007 the amount of anti-anaemia drugs – like ferrous carbonate (with vitamin C) and folic acid – required by primary health clinics had increased dramatically, he said.
“There was a rise in anaemia amongst children in our centres in 2008 and [this is] continuing,” said Adnan al-Wahaidi, director of Ard al-Insan Benevolent Association in Gaza, the main healthcare NGO supporting an estimated 16,000 undernourished children.
“Women with children who are underweight or wasting have been coming to the centres in greater numbers over the last few months; many of their husbands died during the recent conflict or are unemployed.”
These testimonies were given to ISM Gaza Strip volunteers on April 9th 2009
Izhaq Mohammed Zayed, 46
Arbitrary fishing zones in Gaza
On Monday 6th April 2009, Izhaq Zayed was with his son, Rassim, in a hassaka (small fishing boat) off the coast of Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. Izhaq was feeling unwell and asked Rassim to take him back to shore to go to hospital. Around the same time, an Israeli naval zodiac approached them and a soldier shot in the air. Rassim told the Israelis that his father was ill and needed to go to hospital, but they refused to let them go. An officer ordered a soldier to shoot at the boat and the soldier fired about 20 shots in close range. Rassim told them,
“If something happens to my father you are responsible. Either let me take him to the hospital or you take him.”
The Israelis ordered them to go west, further out to sea. When they arrived at a yellow boundary marker, they were ordered to tie their hassaka to it. Then they noticed another three hassakas that had also been forced to come to the yellow buoy. The Israelis in the zodiac began to interrogate the fishermen about their names and communicate by radio to the Israeli gunboat that was nearby. They ordered the fishermen to stand up and take their clothes off. Izhaq was lying on the hassaka, still sick. He refused to stand, saying that he couldn’t. The Israelis threatened to shoot him. They asked him to take off his jacket and again he refused saying that he was feeling cold. Again they threatened to shoot at him. Then they asked all the fishermen (apart from two minors) to jump in the water and swim to the larger naval vessel. The two boys stayed in the hassaka. Then they threw Izhaq a tire and he grabbed it and they pulled him. However he fell in the water. The soldiers grabbed him violently (he showed his bruises)
On arrival at Ashdod he was taken to see a doctor who asked what was wrong with him. He said that he had a headache and his stomach was aching. The doctor asked whether he had drunk any sea water. Izhaq said he hadn’t. The doctor challenged him, saying that a soldier reported that he had been drinking seawater. Izhaq explained that he had been vomiting and had just washed his mouth out with seawater. The doctor checked his heart and back and gave him a pill (he doesn’t know what it was). He had to sign a paper to acknowledge that he had been attended by a doctor. Then they took him away, searched him, gave him clothes and began to interrogate him.
The interrogators accused him that he had been found in a ‘restricted’ zone and that the soldiers who arrested him had claimed he was in Dugeet (northern part of Gaza close to the Green Line). He told them this wasn’t true and that they should bring the soldier who said that because he was lying. Izhaq said that he had been taken from Al Waha (which is in the ‘permitted’ area). The interrogators asked how he could prove this. He explained that he has a room in Al Waha which he goes back and forth from.
Then the interrogators asked about his family’s financial situation:
– What do your daughters’ husbands do for a living?
– They are all fishermen.
– How much do you make from fishing?
– 20 NIS per day.
– Did you work in Israel.
– Yes.
– How much money you were earning?
– 250 NIS per day.
– What can you do with 20 NIS?
– Nothing.
– Wasn’t working in Israel better?
– Now the crossing is closed.
– Work with us and we will pay you.
– No.
– Why not?
– Because I don’t want to.
– Do the Palestinian police come to the beach?
– No.
– When you lose your nets do you go to the Palestinian navy station?
– No.
– Why?
– Because you bombed their offices.
– Where do you go to?
– To Al Mina (the port of Gaza City).
– Do you go to *** **** from the syndicate?
– Yes. What about my hassaka?
– It will stay here.
– I have nets that cost $1,000. Tomorrow the weather will be windy and I will lose them.
– How old is your son, Rassim?
– 22.
– Is he engaged?
– Yes.
– Do you want him to get married?
– Yes, but I can’t afford his wedding.
– Help us and we will enable you to get him married quickly.
– What does that mean?
– We will call you on your mobile…
– Why?
– To tell you when we are going to give you your hassaka.
– Do I know you to talk to you on the phone?
– You talk to your boss in Israel. He still phone you sometimes. I want also to be your friend.
– No
– Why?
– Because you abducted me and you prevent me from providing for my family. You took me when I was only 100 meters from the shore. You took my hassaka and my nets and some of the nets are still at sea.
Then they brought about 50 copies of a sketch that was supposed to show the ‘permitted’ and ‘restricted’ areas (see photo). The sketch is hand made and has no dimensions. The Israeli navy no longer recognizes the Oslo Agreement which allows Palestinian fishermen to fish as far out as 20 nautical miles from the Gazan coast, yet at the same time demands the fishermen to respect ‘area K’ which is in Palestinian territorial waters, adjacent to Israeli waters but according to Oslo is a non-fishing area. Also, the sketch doesn’t show any dimensions to indicate how far from the coast the Palestinian fishermen are ‘allowed’ to fish. The Israelis asked the abducted fishermen to distribute these papers amongst their colleagues.
They also brought a map showing Gaza and asked Izhaq to point out his house. He told the interrogators he didn’t know where it was on the map. He was asked where his house is in relation to Al Iman Mosque and he told them it’s to the east of the mosque. Then they asked him who his neighbors are and when he told them they showed him his house on the map. After the interrogation he was again handcuffed and blindfolded. At 9.30pm the fishermen were shackled together.
At 10.00pm they were put on a bus to be taken to the Erez crossing. Later, after their blindfolds were removed at the crossing, they saw they were being guarded by seven soldiers. At Erez, the border soldiers asked the naval soldiers why these people had been arrested. They were told that the Palestinian fishermen were fishing in a restricted area. Izhaq told the officer that this was a lie and that they had been fishing in a permitted area.
The Israelis released them and warned them that they had five minutes to reach the Palestinian side of the crossing. The fishermen asked the Israelis to give them some money to take a taxi home because they were barefoot. The Israelis refused and told them that if they don’t go straight ahead to the other side of the crossing they would shoot them.
Ahmed Assad Hamad Sultan, 15
Ahmed was fishing with his brother Abed, 21, about 100-150 meters from the shore. The Israeli zodiac approached and ordered them to go west but they refused. The fishermen told them that it was the last time to fish there. The Israelis in the zodiac forced them by shooting to go west to the mark.
There they were ordered to take their clothes off. All the fishermen swam to the larger gunboat but two youths remained in two different hassakas. The Israelis in the zodiac told them to jump in the water. The boys pleaded, explaining that they couldn’t swim. Then they threw them a tire and pulled them to the zodiac, where they were handcuffed very tightly and blindfolded. Although they were naked and cold, they were covered with a wet blanket which was very heavy and tight on their chests, causing them difficulty to breathe. They took the two boys to Ashdod in the zodiac.
Ahmed was hit in the back when he asked for food. None of the fishermen were given anything to eat during their detention, only water.
Riffat Zayed Zayed, 20
Riffat was out in a hassaka, assisted by his brother Neshat, 12, who suffers from a chronic disease. While they were collecting their nets, an Israeli naval zodiac appeared and soldiers ordered them head west. At first they ignored this demand. The Israelis began to shoot but they ignored them again. The Israelis threatened to shoot them. Riffat was forced to cut their nets in order to leave the area.
When they arrived at the mark, they tied the hassakas. They took their clothes off and stayed in the cold for 20 minutes. Then they were ordered to jump in the cold water and swim to the larger gunboat. When they arrived, the soldiers seized them then blindfolded and handcuffed them. They pushed Riffat’s head down and covered him with a blanket.
Only when they arrived in Ashdod were they given trousers. There he asked to use a toilet but was made to wait for 20 minutes. When he asked for food he was tied to a chair.. Then he was taken to a doctor who declared he was fit. Only then he was given a shirt. He was taken for interrogation where they untied his hands and uncovered his eyes.
He was asked how much he earns from the sea, to which he replied 15-20 NIS per day maximum. The interrogators said they would pay him 200-250 NIS if he let them know how much the other fishermen are earning. He told them he didn’t want to. They said that if he collaborated with them, they would return his hassaka and nets. He replied that if he had to collaborate, then he didn’t want his property back. So they told him he wouldn’t get them back.
They blindfolded and handcuffed him again. When he said that he wanted to go home, the soldiers kicked the chair he was in which threw him about two meters across the room. The fishermen could smell the soldiers preparing coffee in front of them but they weren’t given any, only water. At 5.30 Riffat tried to uncover his eyes to see the time so a soldier hit him. He was forced onto the ground and kept there. On the bus to Erez a similar incident occurred.
Alaa Mohammed Joma Sultan, 15
Alaa also said that the soldiers hit him in the back. Alaa has been injured in the past when he fell whilst trying to escape from Israeli gunfire on the shore.
Some of the fishermen have been abducted in the past. However they say that it was the first time that the Israelis also took children.
The Israelis didn’t say if and when they will return the four hassakas. As for the six hassakas stolen in March, three of the fishermen have been phoned in connection with their possible return.
6th of April 2009 at 7am: Israeli Naval forces abducted eight Palestinian fishermen (including two minors) from the Salateen area in the north of the Gaza Strip.
Additionally, the fishermen’s four hassakas (small fishing boats) have been taken by the Israeli Navy.According to eyewitnesses, the fishermen were only about 100 meters from the coast at the time of their abduction.
Initial information received regarding the fishermen’s details are as follows:
-Esshaq Mohammed Zayed, 45
-Rassam Mohammed Zayed, 25
-Hafez Assad Al Sultan, 25
-Ahmed Assad Al Sultan, 17
-Safwat Zayed Zayed, 35
-Nashaat Zayed Zayed, 10
-Hammada Joma Zayed, 22
-Joma Mollok Zayed, 50
During the last month the Israeli Navy has escalated its attacks against Gazan fishermen by injuring at least three of them, abducting a further 24 fishermen, and stealing 10 hassakas and oneshansula fishing boat.
Last week dozens of Salateen fishermen, joined by the Director of the General Syndicate of Marine Fishers, Palestinian activists from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative and International Solidarity Movement activists, demonstrated against the Israeli attacks, demanding the release of the stolen boats.
The Free Gaza Movement will again challenge Israel’s illegal closure of the Gaza Strip and collective punishment of its civilian population by sailing the HOPE FLEET, a flotilla of passenger and cargo ships, to Gaza at the end of May 2009 – to be followed by freedom riders this summer. We are turning to you, our friends & supporters, to help make Hope come alive.
Our small yet committed group has already made five successful voyages to Gaza, delivering needed human rights workers & humanitarian supplies, taking out Palestinian students and medical patients, and helping to lessen Gaza’s terrible isolation from the world. We are confident that with the universal outrage over Israel’s massacres in Gaza we will be able to send a flotilla of ships to shatter the siege and deliver a message of international hope and solidarity to the people of Palestine.
March 30th, 2009 marks the BDS (Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions) Global Day of Action against Israeli violence. Responsible BDS actions were used to end apartheid in South Africa. Today, Israeli policies of racism, ethnic cleansing and the brutal military occupation of Palestine demand equally determined & direct action to overcome them. When our governments fail to act, we – the citizens of the world – must stand up and make our voices heard. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights grants all people the right to leave and return to their own country – a right that Israel summarily denies Palestinians.
We are looking for ships wishing to join the Hope Fleet and sail to Gaza in late May, and we are looking for high-profile people, including parliamentarians and celebrities, who want to join us and demand that a besieged Gaza cannot forever remain an open-air prison with no access to the world. The Free Gaza Movement will continue to challenge Israel’s brutal policies. We will go to Gaza again, and again, and again, until the Israeli siege is broken and the people of Gaza have access to the rest of the world.
We will begin collecting names and information as we ready for this historic voyage. With your help, we will make the HOPE FLEET a reality.
The Free Gaza Movement sails for Gaza FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The latest reports are of four Israeli gunboats saying they will use their weapons if the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY does not turn back to Greece. The boat is asserting its right to continue in international waters.
The Free Gaza mercy ship, SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, left port in Cyprus this morning on an emergency mission to besieged Gaza. Aboard the ship are desperately needed medical supplies and 21 passengers and crew, including doctors, human rights workers, journalists, and two parliamentarians from Spain and Italy.
We’ve just received word from the ship (as of 3:15am UST / 1:15am GMT) that they are surrounded by Israeli Naval gunboats. The warships are demanding that the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY return to Cyprus. We are insisting to reach Gaza and complete our peaceful mission.
The Israelis have not yet attacked our unarmed ship, but it is URGENT that everyone immediately CALL the Israeli government and demand that they STOP threatening the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY!
CALL
Mark Regev in the Prime Minister’s office:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il
Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence:
+972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod.gov.il
The Israeli Navy Spokesperson:
+ 972 5 781 86248
LOCATION OF SPIRIT OF HUMANITY
The location of the ship can be tracked on its Spot Tracker page.
