'UN donor freeze behind Palestinian health crisis’
AFP

The international community is fuelling a deepening health crisis among Palestinians because of its freeze on aid since the Hamas government came into office, a UN expert said Thursday.

Paul Hunt, the UN's health rights monitor, said that moves in recent days to funnel funds to cash-strapped Palestinians without money reaching the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority were insufficient to solve the problem. "At best, it is a temporary, incomplete fix," said Hunt in a statement.

"For example, while it will cover some essential supplies, it will not pay health professionals. How can a health system function without paid health professionals?

Where is the logic in making available essential supplies while at the same time strangling the system that delivers them?" The Palestinian Authority has long relied on foreign donors to run its health sector and other public services. Such aid previously covered around half of the Palestinian health budget.

The United States and European Union blocked donations earlier this year, after the Islamic movement Hamas swept to power at the ballot box.

Hamas is deemed a terrorist organisation by Washington and Brussels because of suicide attacks against Israel. It refuses to renounce violence or recognise Israel.

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that it is ordinary people who are suffering from the collapse of Palestinian Authority services.

Hunt said that the health crisis should come as no surprise.