A Response to the "Open Letter for the People in Gaza"

.... The assertion that Israel has no regard for the lives of Gazan citizens is utterly false. Israel continues to supply electricity and water to Gaza even during this unfortunate conflict. Since the beginning of the current conflict, 1248 trucks entered Gaza from Israel, 4.44 million liters of diesel were delivered for the power station, and 48 infrastructural repairs were carried out. On July 27, 170 trucks were scheduled to enter but the crossing was forced to close at 14:00 because of Hamas activity in the area. The 94 trucks that entered delivered, among other thing, 1165 tons of food, 600 tons of agricultural supplies, and 6 tons of medical supplies.9 We would also note that when Israel agreed to a humanitarian cease fire in order to allow supplies through and let the citizens buy food and medicine, it was Hamas that within the hour had violated this cease fire and was firing rockets into Israel.

As physicians, and as human beings, we are devastated at the loss of any life, Palestinian or Israeli. Israeli hospitals are filled with Arab and Jewish doctors working together to treat both Israeli and Palestinian patients. Although the proliferation of missiles into Israel endangers both patients and doctors, and requires frequent trips to shelters, care continues and surgeries and critical care continue even during the sirens. Since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, there have been over 12,500 missiles shot from Gaza into Israel, including over 2500 in the current conflict. Obviously, many of these missiles, had they not been intercepted by the Iron Dome, could have easily struck hospitals, especially those in the South, killing countless patients.

At any time, hundreds of Palestinians are being treated in Israeli hospitals, including the granddaughter of Hamas leader Haniyeh himself! In 2013, for example, 225410 medical permits were issued to Palestinians in the West Bank and 13734 to Gazans. Despite frequent claims that Israel turns away ambulances carrying people in desperate need of medical services, in 2013, out of the 1,189 ambulances which requested permits, 1,188 received them, and only one was refused. 10 During the current conflict, Israel has airlifted wounded Gazans to its hospitals. Some of these patients are the terrorists themselves, including a 16 year old who was among those involved in the infiltration attempt to Israel in which seven Israeli soldiers were killed. In addition, over 1200 Syrians injured during the bloodshed in Syria have and continue to be treated in Israeli hospitals, returning to Syria once they are healed. In order to help those Gazans that cannot reach Israel for care, Israel set up a field hospital on the border with a full range of services, including an emergency room, ambulatory services and a delivery room, but the Hamas continues to prevent Gazans from making their way there. They have also refused the offers of blood, humanitarian aid and medical care that Israel has offered. The Israeli army also runs an ATLS course for Palestinian physicians in the West Bank in order to help them better serve the local population.

“The Lancet, the prestigious British medical journal now being degraded and coopted into being a tool for the terrorists.”

That already happened about a decade ago — when the Lancet rushed to publication (without peer reviews) bogus “studies” that purported to show that hundreds of thousands of “civilians” were killed in Iraq (all by the U.S.A, of course).

Yes, I also commented to another article the other morning which was wailing about Israel’s treatment of Gaza residents. One should HOPE that they get Israelis as a foe when you consider that they continue to supply tons of food & water daily, warn their “hits” they are coming ahead of the hit, repair hospitals, clinics, etc. set up treatment centers, etc. for those crazy radicals whose sole bent is to wipe them off the face of the earth. One wonders what they’d do if Israel was no longer able to help them. Let’s be honest. The rest of the ME countries could’ve assimilated the Palestinians any time they wanted, but they did not want to. They don’t want them either! They are willing to help them against Israel, but they refuse to take them in. Israel goes WAY BEYOND any good neighbor demands, and yet they are accused of treating the Palestinians poorly, afflicting genocide on them, etc. The world is willfully blind, and therefore willingly anti-Semitic. There is no excuse for this, but there it is, anyway! This reminds me of the welfare queens here, whose whole life has been on the dole, know nothing else, and their demands for us to buy their kids every expensive toy imaginable. The Palestinians have been on the dole their whole lives, too. And, to have been “given” Gaza as a thriving, beautiful oasis, with beautiful homes, shops, businesses already in place, etc. What did they do when the last Israeli left? Moved in and SMASHED everything to bits! I just cannot describe what a pain that was to see. I’m certain the Israelis who had built it all up were speechless, not to mention devastated.

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