Sickness can be ‘death sentence’ in Gaza as war fuels di sease

LONDON: Western powers on Tuesday announced fresh sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with short-range missiles for imminent use against Ukraine, calling it a dangerous escalation of the conflict that threatened European security.

Britain, France and Germany said they would cut aviation agreements with the Islamic republic and look set to sanction its national carrier Iran Air, claiming Tehran had repeatedly defied warnings about the weapons transfers.

London said the move would “restrict Iran Air´s ability to fly in to the UK”.

“This is a further escalation of Iran´s military support to Russia´s war of aggression against Ukraine and will see Iranian missiles reaching European soil, increasing the suffering of the Ukrainian people,” the so-called E3 powers said. “This act is an escalation by both Iran and Russia, and is a direct threat to European security,” a joint statement read.

In London, visiting Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States would also impose sanctions on Iran and that Russia could use the Iranian missiles against Ukraine “within weeks”.

Dozens of Russian military personnel have trained in Iran using the Fath-360 missile, which has a range of 120-kms, he added. —AFP

BEIRUT: In Gaza, falling ill can be a death sentence. Cancer patients are waiting to die, polio has returned, and many of the doctors and nurses who might have offered help are dead while the hospitals they worked at have been reduced to rubble.

Doctors and health professionals say that even if the Israel-Hamas war were to stop tomorrow, it will take years to rebuild the healthcare sector and people will continue to die because preventable diseases are not being treated on time.

“People are dying on a daily basis because they cannot get the basic treatment they need,” said Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator at rights group ActionAid Palestine.

Cancer patients “are waiting for their turn to die,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Last week, Israel and Hamas agreed on limited pauses in the fighting to allow children to be vaccinated against polio after a one-year-old baby boy was found to be partially paralysed from the disease, the first case in the crowded strip in 25 years.

But even as crowds gathered in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis for vaccinations on Sept. 5, bombs continued to fall in other areas with Gaza health officials saying an Israeli strike killed five people at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah.

“It will take long and so much effort in order to restore the level of care that we used to have in Gaza,” said Mohammed Aghaalkurdi, medical programme lead at Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Every day he sees around 180 children with skin diseases that he “just cannot treat,” he said.

“Due to vaccination campaign interruptions, lack of supplies, lack of hygiene items and infection prevention control material, it (healthcare) is just deteriorating.”

The conflict was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 40,800 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s offensive in the enclave, according to the Gaza health ministry, with around 92,000 wounded.