Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

Gaza siege by the numbers, two years and counting

Date: 13 / 06 / 2009  Time:  16:17
Bethlehem - Ma’an -

Only 25% of requested goods have entered Gaza since Israel began imposing its siege on the area in 2007, a report revealed last week.

The Israeli organization Gisha, with the mandate of protecting the freedom of movement in Palestine, released a report detailing ‘Siege by numbers’ and cataloguing dozens of examples of the wide gap between Israeli policy regarding the Gaza siege, and the actual trickle of bare-minimum humanitarian goods that actually get into the Strip.

Some of the statistics include:

63% of the Gaza Power Plant’s fuel needs have been met, on average, for the past two years
*Average length of power outages in Gaza: five hours per day.
*Current number of people without access to running water in Gaza: 28,000.

Number of food items Israel's Cabinet Resolution promised to permit to enter Gaza: Unlimited.
*Number of food items actually permitted into Gaza: 18.

Amount of money pledged for reconstruction aid at the March 2009 Donors Conference: $4.5 billion.
*Quantity of building materials permitted to enter Gaza: Zero.

Unemployment rate in Gaza in 2007, the year the closure was imposed: 30%.
*Unemployment rate in Gaza in 2008: 40%.

Number of days Rafah Crossing has been open for regular traffic: Zero.
*Number of people unable to travel through Rafah each month: 39,000.
*Criteria for passage through Erez Crossing: exceptional humanitarian cases.

The Gisha report was released days before a feature story in the Israeli daily paper Haaretz, which detailed irregular and changing regulations around the Gaza siege.

Most significantly the article published news of a “bare minimum” food formula that calculates the smallest amount of basic foodstuffs necessary to keep Gazans just above malnourishment. It is the resulting number, the report said, which determines how much flour and meat actually get into the beleaguered area.

18-year-old man electrocuted in Gaza tunnel near Rafah

Date: 13 / 06 / 2009  Time:  15:15
Gaza – Ma’an –

Eighteen-year-old Ibrahim Zu’rub died after being electrocuted on Saturday inside a tunnel under the borders between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip in Rafah.

Director of Ambulance and Emergency Services at the Palestinian Ministry of Health Muawiya Hassanein said the victim was transferred to the forensic medicine department at Abu Yousif An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah.

Solidarity Forum to host Gaza reconstruction conference in Turkey

Date: 13 / 06 / 2009  Time:  12:47
Gaza – Ma’an –

Istanbul will host a Solidarity Forum conference for international businesses to discuss tactics and progress in rebuilding the Gaza Strip after the destructive Israeli war on the area.

The conference will be held on 17 and 18 June and see some 2,000 businesspeople join in talks, organizers said. Most discussions will center around creating means to implement reconstruction plans.

Head of the reconstruction committee in Gaza, Wael As-Saqa, said 460 projects totaling 300 million US dollars are in the planning stages. These plans, he said, would be pitched at the Istanbul conference for feasibility assessment.

Patient dies due to the ongoing siege on Gaza

Friday June 12, 2009 23:58 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agecnies

Medical sources in the Gaza reported that a patient from Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, died on Thursday after Israel obstructed his transfer to an Egyptian hospital.

The patient, Jihad Salim Al Habbash, 45, suffered a terminal illness and needed medications and ongoing checkups.
He also needed a surgery but as Gaza hospitals became idled due to the siege, and ran out of medications and spare parts for their machines, the ministry of health decided to transfer him to Egypt.
Al Habbash has four children. He was diagnosed with a terminal illness several years ago.
The ministry reported that 392 patients died due to the ongoing siege, whie hundreds are still awaiting transfer to hospitals abroad.    

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