Palestine suffers medicine shortages due to Israel’s siege, limited donations

Palestinian Authority (PA)’s Minister of Health Mai Al-Kaila announced on Wednesday that Palestinian hospitals are suffering acute shortages of medicine due to the Israeli siege and limited international donations, Anadolu Agency reported.

This came during a meeting with the Medical Task Group held in Ramallah in the presence of the European Union, the US, the United Nations and international bank officials.

“Like all other sectors, the Palestinian health sector suffers from great shortages due to the financial siege imposed by the occupation, as well as the weak international donations,” the minister explained.

She added: “These shortages negatively affect offering services to the patients due to the acute lack of medicines.”

The minister also said that Palestinian patients suffer greatly from Israeli “racism” and feel they are living under an “apartheid” regime when they move from Gaza or West Bank’s Area C, which is under Israeli administrative and security control, to receive treatment at hospitals.

She called for the international community and human rights groups to “rein in” the Israeli occupation and stop its practices.

The Palestinian government has been suffering a severe financial crisis since 2019 due to Israel’s partial deduction of tax revenues collected on behalf of the PA and feeble international donations.

READ: Gaza cancer patients suffer double pains, health official warns