204114 Medical Responses to the Israeli Siege and Attacks On the Gaza Strip

Tuesday, November 10, 2009: 1:30 PM

Graham C. M. Watt, Professor , General Practice and Primary Care, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
  
After 18 months of siege, health services in the Gaza Strip approached the end of 2008 in a perilous state with a shortage of basic medical supplies and fuel for heat, lighting and operating medical equipment. One and a half million Palestinians were desperately short of food and fuel.

On December 27th, the Israeli army launched a 22 day attack on the Gaza Strip, killing over 1300 Palestinians, of whom a third were children, and injuring over 5,400. Schools, mosques, hospitals and a UN compound were hit. The WHO reported that al-Quds Hospital suffered a direct hit. Both al-Quds hospital and the European Hospital were surrounded by Israeli troops and reportedly hit with white phosphorus.

Attacks on medical personal and ambulances hampered the ability to assist the injured. According to the Ministry of Health, 13 medical personnel were killed and 22 injured while on duty. By the end of the siege there were only 2,000 hospital beds to serve a population of 1.5 million with many injured, wounded, and suffering from trauma.

This presentation describes and analyzes medical responses to the Israeli siege and attacks as these responses occurred and in the immediate aftermath as well as plans and initial efforts to rebuild health and health care in the Gaza Strip. The paper is based on needs assessments within the acute and community health sectors, review of the distribution and coordination of international aid, and the experiences of the rebuilding and recovery program.

Learning Objectives:
This presentation describes and analyzes medical responses to the Israeli siege and attacks as these responses occurred and in the immediate aftermath as well as plans and initial efforts to rebuild health and health care in the Gaza Strip.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have longstanding research interests in the epidemiology of health and disease in families, inequalities in health and health care and the development of academic capacity in primary care.I have had academic links with the Institute of Community and Public Health at the University of Birzeit for 10 years and in 2005 became a Trustee of the UK Charity Medical Aid for Palestinians
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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