Hamas says Israeli blockade of Gaza crime against humanity

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says Israel’s years-long blockade of the Gaza Strip amounts to a crime against humanity.

"The Israeli occupation’s unjust siege on the Gaza Strip, imposed for more than 15 years, military offensives against it, the closure of the border crossings, and the denial of access to medicine and food that negatively affected innocent civilians and resulted in deteriorated Palestinians’ health and economic conditions and worsening crises, are heinous crimes against humanity that disregard international laws and norms," Hamas said in a Monday statement.

A United Nations report has brought to the fore the monumental toll the blockade has taken on the coastal enclave’s population. The report was released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on June 30.

About 2.1 million Palestinians in the besieged strip are “locked in,” with a vast majority unable to access the remainder of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the outside world, the UN report said. “In previous years, patients have died while awaiting a response to their application.”

The Israeli blockade has turned the enclave into an open-air prison since 2007.

Hamas call on Arab and Islamic nations as well as the international community to ramp up assistance in the reconstruction of Gaza.

MG