More than 1,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza Strip under Israeli blockade


More than 1,000 Palestinians have died due to the degrading humanitarian conditions in the blockaded Gaza Strip, according to a charity organization.

"Out of the 1,000 or so victims of the blockade, 450 died as a result of the collapse of the health situation in Gaza, such as the lack of medical supplies and the crisis of medical referrals for outside treatment," said the head of the Gaza Strip's collective charitable organizations, Ahmad al-Kurd, on Sunday, as reported by al-Jazeera.

In January, a hospital in densely populated Gaza declared that it had completely suspended its services amid the Israeli blockade that has resulted in electricity cuts and a lack of fuel to run generators. The closure of the hospital comes amid debates that the U.S. will cut aid to a United Nations department that provides resources to Gaza. Due to the lack of electricity, people predominantly rely on gasoline-fueled generators and solar panels to keep their refrigerators running and to have access to hot water. Considering that oil prices are high due to the blockade, Gazans are in a dire situation.

The number of Palestinians who were killed in the fields of agriculture, fishing and commercial tunnels has reached 350, al-Kurd also said.

At least one Palestinian fisherman was killed and two others injured when Israeli Navy opened fire on a fishing boat off Gaza's coast, Israeli media reported, according to Anadolu Agency. Two Israeli soldiers were also injured in the incident, broadcaster Channel 2 reported without explaining the nature of the injuries. An Israeli army spokesman, quoted by the channel, said the fishermen had crossed the designated fishing zone. He added that the firing injured three fishermen, with one later pronounced dead. The fishermen were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Israel's southern city of Ashkelon, he said.

Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif Qanoua called the incident "an ugly crime the occupation is responsible for and a form of continuing aggression against our Palestinian people."

Fishing is one of the biggest industries in the Gaza Strip, a coastal enclave of almost 2 million inhabitants. According to a Gaza-based fishermen's union, roughly 50,000 Gazans earn their living from fishing. Over the past two years, Israel has detained dozens of Gaza fishermen who have strayed beyond the border, a senior naval commander said. Boats are not allowed to stray beyond a fixed limit to the north towards Israeli waters, and Egypt keeps similar limitations to the southwest. Israel restricts fishing to a seasonally adjusted zone of between six and nine nautical miles.

Israel waged a devastating 51-day military onslaught on the Gaza Strip in mid-2014 in which more than 2,300 Palestinians were killed and tens of thousands injured. According to Israeli figures, 68 Israeli soldiers and five Israeli civilians were killed in the conflict, while 2,522 others, including 740 soldiers, were injured. After the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel annexed East Jerusalem and deems the entire city its "indivisible and eternal capital," a status not recognized internationally. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, and it is now ruled by the Hamas resistance group.