Gaza's ministry of health warned that continuing shortages in medical supplies could bring surgical operations at hospitals in the Strip to a standstill. Mounir Al-Borsh, the ministry's chief of pharmaceuticals, said there were chronic shortages in medical supplies and medical essentials in the operating rooms. He indicated that some 183 medicines and 165 types of medical supplies were out of stock in the ministry's storage and hospitals. This worsens every day, he added. Al-Borsh held the Ramallah government responsible for involving medical supplies in the political wrangling between Gaza and the West Bank by using the sick as pawns and punishing Gaza's Palestinian population as a whole. In his statement, Al-Borsh said that the international Red Cross managed to transport into Gaza enough dialysis solution to last a month. He called on the government in Ramallah to supply the Gaza Strip with the medicine necessary pointing out that a share of medicine provided by the World Bank must be given to Gaza. The WB's supply is to all Palestinians including Gaza's population, he emphasised. Al-Borsh called on international organisations to intervene quickly and pressure Ramallah's health ministry to end the shortage which has created disastrous conditions for thousands of sick Gazans.
