Gaza – Ma’an – The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that the continued Israeli authorities’ imposition of an arbitrary blockade on the Gaza Strip, and the prevention of the entry of aid and basic materials that are indispensable for survival, including the prevention of the entry of cleaning and personal hygiene tools amid the spread of infectious diseases and the difficult living conditions of about 2.3 million Palestinians, is a consecration of the comprehensive crime of genocide that it has been carrying out since October 7.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor expressed its deep concern about the dire consequences of Israel’s continued deliberate aggravation of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, preventing the entry of cleaning and personal hygiene materials, sanitary tools and sterilization materials, and not allowing the entry of many necessary related items, noting that there is no reason to justify subjecting the population to living conditions that could lead to their a
ctual death, including through the spread of serious infectious and skin diseases, hepatitis, and others.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor stressed that Israel’s continued arbitrary and systematic deprivation of all residents of the Gaza Strip of hygiene tools and materials contributes to the rapid spread of the massive health disaster created by Israel in the Gaza Strip, which has been exacerbated by the forced, large-scale and repeated displacement of the population, and their lack of disinfectants and personal hygiene materials, especially in shelters and camps crowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, due to Israel’s continued prevention and obstruction of the entry of basic supplies into the Strip, and the continued spread of infectious diseases, water pollution and the absence of sanitation services, due to their destruction by the Israeli army forces.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor stressed that the arbitrary and ongoing Israeli blockade and closure of all cross
ings leading to the Gaza Strip since the start of the genocidal war about ten months ago, and the prevention and obstruction of the entry of humanitarian supplies, have led to a dangerous accumulation of a group of crises that directly threaten the lives and health of the residents of the Gaza Strip, most notably their deprivation of food, potable water, medicines, medical supplies, as well as sanitary tools and cleaning materials.
In a statement to the Euro-Med team, Aya Kamal Ashour Abed (20 years old), a mother of two children, and a displaced person in the Deir al-Balah Preparatory School for Girls in the central Gaza Strip, said: ‘We are more than 30 people who have been living in this classroom for about 9 months. Our number was about 70 people a few months ago, but the number decreased slightly when some of the displaced people moved to tents outside the school.’
‘Although our number is very large and we constantly need cleaning and personal hygiene materials, we only get them in limited quantities e
very two or three months,’ Abed added. ‘Even in the markets, there are no sanitary materials such as tissues, soap, and shampoo, and if they are available, they are at a very high price. For example, the price of a bar of soap has reached 30 shekels (about 9 US dollars), and a bottle of shampoo has reached 90 shekels (about 25 US dollars). Where can we provide these amounts just for personal hygiene when we have nothing to eat?’
Abed, who was displaced from her home in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza after it was bombed last October, said that her two sons had developed allergies and bacteria that required ointments she could not provide and which were not available in the clinics of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). She added: ‘I took my son to the doctor and he told me that his entire body was seriously infected with bacteria due to poor hygiene.’
She explained that her biggest struggle is finding sanitary pads, which are now scarce and expensive in local
markets. She said, ‘I have to cut my children’s pads into small pieces and use them as sanitary pads during my period, even though they are completely inconvenient to use. I also have to spend the entire day using only one pad, which has caused me many rashes and infections.’
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor warned that there are about 680,000 women and girls of menstrual age in the Gaza Strip who do not have sufficient access to the necessary supplies for menstruation, especially sanitary pads, in addition to the lack of water, hygiene supplies and toilets, the lack of privacy, and their need to use contaminated or unsterilized materials, which exposes them to the risk of contracting diseases, including uterine cancer, infections of the reproductive system and urinary tract, and infertility.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor highlighted the growing risks of the absence of basic personal and household cleaning materials in the Gaza Strip, in light of the dire need for cleaning and perso
nal care, as a result of forcing more than 2 million people to be forcibly displaced, most of them multiple times, and hundreds of thousands of them resorting to shelters and tents that lack the minimum necessities of life, personal hygiene and health care, in addition to the risks of waste accumulation and the flooding of roads and markets with sewage due to the inability to drain it, due to Israel cutting off electricity to the Gaza Strip completely, and preventing the entry of fuel to operate alternative generators, in addition to the destruction of most of the vital infrastructure in the Strip, including sewage networks.
Mohammed Saad Abu Haitham, 42, said that his family of 8, who live in a tent in the Mawasi area of ??Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, is suffering greatly due to the lack of cleaning materials and the lack of soap for personal hygiene or soap for washing clothes. Even if soap is available, it is difficult to buy it due to its high prices.
“We do not have the money to buy enough me
als for our children, so we can buy cleaning materials and soap, given their high prices and the lack of supplies. Lice have spread in my wife and children’s hair, and we all suffer from skin diseases due to the lack of washing and the lack of soap and shampoo,” Abu Haitham added to the Euro-Mediterranean team.
The Euro-Mediterranean team observed the display of quantities of alternative and primitive cleaning materials that are manufactured locally and are considered unsafe and largely insufficient for the purpose, in the markets of the central and southern Gaza Strip, using food dyes as an alternative to the dyes used in preparing liquid soap and disinfectants, which have not entered the Gaza Strip for months due to the Israeli closure of the crossings and the imposition of the arbitrary blockade.
Medical points in shelters and tent camps have recorded tens of thousands of cases of skin diseases, specifically eczema, which is noticeably visible on the hands of women who clean food utensils with primitive,
unsafe materials, at a time when the United Nations indicates that skin rashes and skin infections, especially among children, are on the rise sharply in the Gaza Strip.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor indicated that Israel is imposing an arbitrary, stifling siege on the people of Gaza with the intention of deliberately destroying them, through starvation, and by confining them to an environment with narrow geographical areas, preventing them from receiving medicines and cleaning materials, and depriving them of the ability to access water suitable for drinking and humanitarian use, and raising temperatures.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor stressed that the right to dignity is a fundamental and guaranteed right for all individuals without discrimination or exception, including providing the conditions that allow people to live in dignity, protecting them from humiliation and insult, and ensuring that they obtain other basic needs and rights, such as the right to health and the right
to access water and sanitation, which are internationally recognized human rights to preserve the lives of the population and maintain their dignity.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor stressed that the rights of the residents of the Gaza Strip can only be guaranteed by stopping the crime of genocide, lifting the arbitrary siege on the Gaza Strip, and saving what can be saved in the Strip, which has become unlivable on all levels, noting that every day of delay will lead the Strip to the point of no return or to paying a heavy cost in civilian lives and health.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor renewed its call to the international community to ensure the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, including the entry of essential food and non-food items necessary to respond to the catastrophic situation suffered by the entire population of the Strip, immediately, safely and effectively, including to the northern Gaza Strip, and to give priority to providing adequate supplies of person
al and family hygiene products, and those for menstruation for women and girls in the Gaza Strip, in addition to sexual and reproductive health care services to prevent and mitigate further harm to women and children in particular, and to the entire Palestinian population in general, as required by international human rights law and relevant international obligations.
He also called for the need to pressure Israel to re-operate the main water pipelines that reach the Gaza Strip, especially in the north of the Strip, and to ensure the safety of technicians and provide them with the opportunity to carry out repair and rehabilitation work on water lines and their various sources, in addition to maintaining sanitation facilities and services.
He called for the need to pressure Israel to allow the entry of materials needed for repair work and rehabilitation of civilian infrastructure to provide services that are indispensable to the lives of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and save them from the danger
of health disasters, in addition to ensuring the entry of sufficient fuel to operate the water and sanitation infrastructure, including desalination plants, water wells, and mobile toilets.
Source: Maan News Agency