Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Aug 21;89(1):53.
doi: 10.5334/aogh.3975. eCollection 2023.

Responding to the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza: Damned if You do… Damned if You don't!

Theresa Farhat  1 , Sarah Ibrahim  1 , Zahi Abdul-Sater  1 , Ghassan Abu-Sittah  1
Affiliations

Responding to the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza: Damned if You do… Damned if You don't!

Theresa Farhat et al. Ann Glob Health. .

Abstract

Palestine, since 1948, has endured frequent military occupations and uprisings, intifadas, in a limited geographic area that has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises. The prolonged nature of this military occupation has created a biosphere of war that is uninhabitable, whereby Palestinians suffer from physical, psychological, and social wounds. Israel also imposed restrictive measures in Gaza, making it difficult for Palestinians to obtain permits to work and travel throughout Palestine. Israel continued to intensify the restrictions on Gaza, reaching a blockade on the Gaza Strip, which cut off Palestinians from Jerusalem, where hospitals, banks, and vital services are found. This form of permanent siege resulted in a surge in the unemployment rate, poverty, and poor nutritional and wellbeing status. The siege also resulted in the largest open-air prison, as people became stuck between an incomplete life and the absence of total death. The major challenge is that humanitarian interventions, in the case of Gaza, are ineffective, as they are part of the siege framework. This is because any humanitarian aid meant for Gaza needs to be approved by Israel. Thus, when the emergency becomes chronic and humanitarian interventions become part of the siege framework, how can Gaza rebuild its health capacity in a permanent emergency, and to what extent can the humanitarian sector make a change?

Keywords: Crisis; Emergency; Gaza; Humanitarian; Palestine; Siege; War.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. A guide to the Gaza Strip: A beginner’s guide to an enclave under blockade. Al Jazeera. Published 2021. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/14/a-guide-to-the-gaza-strip.
    1. Asi Y, Hammoudeh W, Mills D, Tanous O, Wispelwey B. EDITORIAL Reassembling the Pieces: Settler Colonialism and the Reconception of Palestinian Health. Health Hum Rights. 2022; 24(2): 229–235. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Saleh S. Contextualizing the Palestinian Refugee Camps in the Gaza Strip. Contemporary Arab Affairs; 2020. DOI: 10.1525/caa.2020.13.4.3 - DOI
    1. Al Nakba: the history of Palestine since 1799 – Palestine. Al Jazeera. Published 2015. https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/palestineremix/al-nakba.html#/17.
    1. A ‘catastrophe’ that defines Palestinian identity. The Atlantic. Published August 4, 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/05/the-meaning-of....