14
recorded (362) cases7. Among the most prominent violations and activities that
Israel committed in Jerusalem are targeting activists, ministers, governors, faction
leaders and national and community work. The Israeli did so by arresting them,
storming their homes and confiscating some of their house contents, prosecuting
and threatening former prisoners, issuing decisions to expel the wives of
Jerusalemite prisoners from Jerusalem, which is what the wife of the former
prisoner, Muhammad al-Ajlouni, suffered.
3. Continuing the tight siege on the Gaza Strip
According to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, the health sector and its
facilities - in conjunction with the Corona pandemic - suffered from a severe
shortage of emergency needs of medicines, medical devices and supplies,
laboratory test materials and devices for testing people infected with the virus,
and intensive care beds. As for intensive care and ventilators, until the middle of
the year, only (39) ventilators were available in the Gaza Strip, (80-90%) of which
were in use. This was not enough for the Gaza Strip’s patients compared to the
number of its residents, especially in the event of the virus spreading more widely.
The percentage of the deficit reached (60%) for medical tests, (50%) for the list of
main medicines, (45%) for medical tasks, including a shortage of protective kits
for protecting medical staff and the necessary medicines to treat against the virus.
The Israeli occupation authorities’ ban on importing a number of new medical
devices, such as radiological devices needed to diagnose cancerous tumors, or
importing spare parts for the maintenance and repair of medical devices, led to the
inability of hospitals and medical centers to deal with hundreds of sick cases. This,
in addition to the inadequacy of hospitals and health centers and their workforce
in relation to the population, which foreshadowed the seriousness of the situation.
As it suffered greatly from economic recession, the economic sector witnessed a
decline in income levels and of production process, as well as direct and indirect
losses of the Gaza Strip as a result of the blockade during (2020, which were
estimated at about one and a half billion dollars. Both the blockade and the Corona
pandemic threatened the food security of about (70%) of families in the Strip, at
a time when more than (85%) of the population lives below the poverty line. The
unemployment rates have risen to nearly (60%), while more than (350,000) workers
are unemployed. The Corona pandemic has exacerbated the deterioration of the
already stretched humanitarian situation for the citizens of the Gaza Strip8.
The occupation forces and navy committed (309) attacks at sea against Palestinian
fishermen in the Gaza Strip. The attacks were dominated with pursuit of fishermen,
7
The annual report on the conditions of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, which was prepared by the
prisoners and human rights institutions (Detainees and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission, Palestinian
Prisoners Club, Addameer Foundation for Prisoner Care and Human Rights, and Wadi Hilweh Information
Center - Silwan), published on December 31, 2020.
8
Statement of the Popular Committee to Confront the Siege in the Gaza Strip ,24/12/2020.
The Status of Human Rights in Palestine