In light of the fast and deteriorating state of health and well-being in Gaza, and the ongoing and inhumane Israeli siege of the people of Gaza that has severely impeded access to medical treatment, medicines, food, and energy, APN in collaboration with the Conference for Palestinians Abroad, launched an urgent appeal referencing Human Rights obligations and International Humanitarian Law. The appeal is necessary to counter the eerie international silence that has completely disregarded the continuous assaults on the rights of health of innocent civilians, and demands the following:
1. The United Nations to call on Israel to remove all restrictions placed on patients requiring medical assistance outside of Gaza, and to allow medical supplies and medical personnel immediate entry into Gaza,
2. The United Nations to call on the Palestinian Authority to immediately and fully revoke its decision to limit patients from receiving medical treatment outside of Gaza,
3. Call on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the right to health to dispatch a fact-finding mission to investigate the impediments to the enjoyment of the right to health caused by the current siege and to take the decisive steps to confront these violations of international law, and
4. The United Nations to pressure Israel to immediately end its siege of Gaza, which has been in place for a decade and has denied its inhabitants of their basic livelihood needs.
The appeal was signed on by 67 regional and international civil society organizations and was forwarded to the Office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Jordan.