Despite reconciliation, PA still imposing sanctions on Gaza

Despite the Egypt-brokered reconciliation talks which were held in Cairo, the Palestinian reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas has not been fully activated.

The PA, headed by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, has been reluctant to lift the sanctions imposed on the besieged Gaza Strip, a condition which formed part of the main conditions of the reconciliation agreement.

The PA sanctions are still in place and affecting various sectors in Gaza, especially healthcare.

Read: Israel army attacking and impeding Palestinian medics, says British charity

Since March, Palestinians in Gaza have been suffering the effects of a shortage in the availability of medicines. According to official sources, the available drugs in the enclave cover less than 45 per cent of the Strip’s needs.

Scores of employees of Gaza’s cleaning companies recently announced plans to protest an hour a day, as they have not been paid their salary of $400 a month for four months.

They called on the Palestinian government to fulfil its pledges. There are some 700 cleaners in Gaza distributed across the enclave’s hospitals.

Food companies recently stopped catering to hospitals and medical centres in the Strip because they have not been paid for months leaving hundreds of patients without food.

Empty shelves are seen as doctors in Gaza run short on medicine [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Employees of Gaza’s cleaning companies protest an hour a day as they have not been paid their full salary amount for months [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Empty shelves are seen as doctors in Gaza run short on medicine [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Employees of Gaza’s cleaning companies protest an hour a day as they have not been paid their full salary amount for months [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Empty shelves are seen as doctors in Gaza run short on medicine [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Employees of Gaza’s cleaning companies protest an hour a day as they have not been paid their full salary amount for months [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Empty shelves are seen as doctors in Gaza run short on medicine [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Employees of Gaza’s cleaning companies protest an hour a day as they have not been paid their full salary amount for months [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Empty shelves are seen as doctors in Gaza run short on medicine [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Empty shelves are seen as doctors in Gaza run short on medicine [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]