Western Countries Offer Assistance in Treating Gaza Patients

SadaNews - 25 Western countries signed a joint statement yesterday, Monday, to facilitate the access of patients from the Gaza Strip to the occupied West Bank for treatment. They urged Israel to reopen the medical corridor between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and offered to provide financial assistance, medical personnel, and equipment to treat these patients.

These countries said, "We strongly urge Israel to reopen the medical corridor to the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, so that medical evacuations from Gaza can resume, and patients can receive the treatment they urgently need in the Palestinian territories," according to a joint statement issued by Canada yesterday, Monday.

Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the European Union, and Poland were among the signatories of the statement, totaling 25 countries, excluding the United States.

The statement added, "We also urge Israel to lift restrictions on the delivery of medicines and medical supplies to Gaza."

Relief agencies reported in late August that a scarcity of essential aid, including medicines, has not reached the residents of Gaza since Israel lifted the blockade on aid in May. The World Health Organization announced that same month that the health system in Gaza is on the brink of collapse.

Israel controls all entrances to Gaza and claims to allow enough food aid and supplies into the area.

Many human rights experts and researchers, along with a United Nations investigative committee, say that this attack amounts to genocide.