Gaza: Israeli gunboats attack Palestinian fishermen and it is faced with growing health crisis

by Carlos Latuff

Israeli gunboats attack Palestinian fishermen

KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)– Israeli navy boats opened heavy machinegun fire at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Khan Younis and Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, on Sunday night.

The head of the fishermen syndicate in Khan Younis, Fuad Al-Amori, said that the gunboats opened intensive fire at the fishermen to force them to retreat to a closer area to the beach.

He said that the continued harassment and shooting by those gunboats had complicated the fishing process in the Strip and forced hundreds of fishermen to leave their work and look for other jobs for sustenance.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained a Palestinian man in Jenin refugee camp during an incursion after searching his home.

Eyewitnesses noted that the IOF soldiers used dogs in storming and searching the house, which occurred before dawn Monday.

An intelligence officer accompanying the IOF patrol questioned all inhabitants of the house before taking away Mohammed Abu Zeina.

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Gaza faced with growing health crisis

Press TV

Authorities in the Gaza Strip have warned that the health problems of impoverished Gazans have been intensified due to a crippling four-year-old siege by Israel.

The Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Health said on Monday the crisis would continue unless Israel allowed in vital material and basic necessities, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The ministry added that local hospitals were in need of chemicals required to produce oxygen as well as spare parts for x-ray machines.

Gazans, in particular cancer patients in the region, are also suffering from lack of necessary medicines as a result of the Israeli blockade on the coastal area since June 2007.

The warning comes as Palestinians mark the second anniversary of Israel’s devastating war on the Gaza Strip in December 2008.

Tel Aviv staged an all-out war on the densely-populated coastal sliver three days before the start of 2009. The strikes left more than 1,400 Palestinians — including at least 300 children — dead and nearly 5,000 more injured.

The offensive also demolished some 4,000 houses in the blockaded territory and devastated a large portion of the region’s infrastructure. The war-hit strip also saw UN-run schools and centers targeted by Israeli army forces.

More than 50,000 people were displaced as a result of the three-week war.

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