From the Liveblog of
Monday, August 4, 2014
Wikileaks tweet shows US concern over Gaza blockade
Wikileaks tweets a 2009 confidential US diplomatic cable expressing concern that the blockade of Gaza was “crippling [Gaza’s] health sector.”
US classified its own report saying #Gaza blockade was stopping medicine and "crippling the health sector. " https://t.co/PAQPEqdo6v
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 4, 2014
The cable summary reads:
Access to Gaza for goods through Israeli crossing points remains severely constrained. While there are adequate stocks of basic food items in Gaza, the lack of variety and continuing price increases are negatively impacting people’s health. A lack of medicine is crippling the health sector.
In the current fighting, Israel’s Health Minister Yael German has accused Hamas of rejecting truckloads of thousands of blood donations, including Palestinian blood donations, saying Hamas was working to worsen the humanitarian toll of the fighting on Gazan civilians in order to increase international pressure on Israel.
