PMRS Urgent Appeal for Support to Avert Public Health Disaster in the Gaza Strip
Gaza City , 28-06-06:
Gaza has once again become the target of Israeli military invasions and the subject of methods of collective punishment, further exacerbating an existing, severe humanitarian situation in the Strip, and in Palestine as whole. Escalating levels of violence; the targeting of civlian infrastructure; the rising number of civilian deaths; prolonged border closures; cuts to humanitarian aid; and acute levels of poverty have clear, negative implications for both the status of public health in the Gaza Strip, and the ability of health institutions such as the Palestinian Medical Relief Society to maintain provision of critical health services.


PMRS is in urgent need of essential equipment, first aid supplies, medical materials and medications in order to sustain the work of its emergency response services. As such, it appeals to the generosity of all its friends throughout the world for support in helping it contribute to averting a public health disaster.
Background
Invasion of Gaza & Destruction of Civilian Infrastructure
After amassing scores of tanks and thousands of soldiers along the border with Gaza over the past 3 days following a Palestinian attack on an Israeli military post along the border with Rafah last Sunday in which one Israel soldier was taken hostage, Israel launched renewed air attacks on civilian infrastructure in the Strip on the night of 27 June, destroying two bridges and a main road linking north, central and southern Gaza. As a result, Gaza has been cut into two and movement between the north, centre and south is now obstructed. In addition, the shelling of the Strip’s main power station, which supplies up to 78 percent of the population with ele