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Gaza hospitals stop surgeries due to drug shortage
 GAZA CITY - Hospitals throughout Gaza have shut down their operating rooms due to a lack of essential anaesthetic drugs, the de- facto Hamas administration in the Strip said.
| It's a shame. Any reality testing here? Any understanding of cause and effect? Nope? Didn't think so. |
Khaled Radi, a spokesman for the Hamas-led Health Ministry, said that a mediator company had informed them that Israel did not allow delivery of nitrous oxide, used as anesthetic in surgery operations. There were 44 cylinders in stock and 42 of them have been used so far. We have begun using the remaining two cylinders since Thursday and they will run out any time, Radi said.
The ministry has sent urgent appeals to several organizations to intervene, including the World Health Organization (WHO), warning that thousands of patients are in danger. Radi accused Israel of violating international law by threatening the lives of patients.
| Always humorous to listen to a Paleo complaining about violations of international law. What about the use of Red Cross ambulances to run guns and ammo? |
Israel declared Gaza hostile territory last month, a response to the violent takeover of the Strip by the radical Islamic Hamas movement and its failure to stop near-daily rocket attacks from the area at southern Israeli towns and villages.
It has since further tightened its closure on the Strip. Between October 12-17, it allowed the transfer of 114 people needing urgent medical treatment in Israel outside the Gaza Strip, the health ministry said. But it prevented the transfer of 30 other patients, citing security reasons, the ministry said.
| Can't trust the ambulances and the ambulance drivers. Makes it hard to move patients. |
In a report published Saturday, Human Rights Watch of course said that three Gaza patients have died because they were denied exit permits by Israel, while others have lost limbs or sight. The human rights group accused the Israeli Shin Bet internal security organization of giving clearance on an arbitrary basis, and Israel of punishing sick civilians as a way to hurt Hamas.
| Not a word about the Paleos killing Israelis, of course, or ambulances used to run guns. |
Posted by: Steve White 2007-10-22 |
