pictured: The damaged Arafat Airport in Gaza
News of the plans for the new hospital department was publicized by an official of the Palestinian Authority's health ministry, Walid Shakura, and reported on the Hebrew-language "Arab Insider" website.
The project is being funded totally by Saudi Arabia - nearly a million dollars for the 800-square-meter building (8,600 square feet), and $4.25 million for the purchase of equipment. The equipment has already been installed, and staffers are currently abroad learning how to use it.
As of now, Gazan Arabs with various growths travel to Israel for treatment, or to nearby Arab countries.
The report comes just as the Israeli civil rights group B'Tzelem releases a report on difficult conditions in Gaza caused by Israel's bombing of the local power station. Israel bombed the station three months ago as part of its response to ongoing Kassam rocket attacks from Gaza, the abduction of the soldier Gilad Shalit, and the killing of two soldiers during the kidnapping.
Ever since then, reports B'Tzelem, which is associated with the extreme left-wing in Israeli politics, some Gaza neighborhoods receive electricity only half the day and water three hours a day. Food-storage, sewage and other aspects of day-to-day life have also been greatly affected. Israel has sent generators for hospital use.
B'Tzelem says the bombing of the electric station was a "war crime," and calls upon Israel to investigate who gave the orders and to put them on trial.
A news article on the topic this week in Israel's Haaretz website painted a grim picture of life in Gaza - yet readers of the left-wing newspaper who chose to comment responded almost unanimously in support of the Israeli policy.
Only some 5% of those who commented felt that the B'Tzelem report was justified. The overwhelming majority expressed opinions such as:
Palestinian Authority terrorists fired a Kassam rocket at Ashkelon on Wednesday. Rockets have been fired at Sderot, Ashkelon and environs almost every day for the past two weeks.
News of the plans for the new hospital department was publicized by an official of the Palestinian Authority's health ministry, Walid Shakura, and reported on the Hebrew-language "Arab Insider" website.
The project is being funded totally by Saudi Arabia - nearly a million dollars for the 800-square-meter building (8,600 square feet), and $4.25 million for the purchase of equipment. The equipment has already been installed, and staffers are currently abroad learning how to use it.
As of now, Gazan Arabs with various growths travel to Israel for treatment, or to nearby Arab countries.
The report comes just as the Israeli civil rights group B'Tzelem releases a report on difficult conditions in Gaza caused by Israel's bombing of the local power station. Israel bombed the station three months ago as part of its response to ongoing Kassam rocket attacks from Gaza, the abduction of the soldier Gilad Shalit, and the killing of two soldiers during the kidnapping.
Ever since then, reports B'Tzelem, which is associated with the extreme left-wing in Israeli politics, some Gaza neighborhoods receive electricity only half the day and water three hours a day. Food-storage, sewage and other aspects of day-to-day life have also been greatly affected. Israel has sent generators for hospital use.
B'Tzelem says the bombing of the electric station was a "war crime," and calls upon Israel to investigate who gave the orders and to put them on trial.
A news article on the topic this week in Israel's Haaretz website painted a grim picture of life in Gaza - yet readers of the left-wing newspaper who chose to comment responded almost unanimously in support of the Israeli policy.
Only some 5% of those who commented felt that the B'Tzelem report was justified. The overwhelming majority expressed opinions such as:
- "Interesting - they have no electricity, but yet they still manage to continue to manufacture Kassam rockets."
- "When Kassams are being fired every day at Sderot, and they are holding a kidnapped soldier, they shouldn't expect good things!"
- "These people have long lost their civil rights. Attaching children to bombs and planting explosives in ambulances has a price..."
- "The rocket-launchers are not mercenaries, they are part of them; look how much honor and respect they receive at their demonstrations/funerals. Did anyone ever see a protest there against Kassam firing?"
- "Even in the rich neighborhoods of Amman [Jordan], water is supplied only three times a week. Every house and apartment has a water container of 2-4 cubic meters. The Palestinian Authority is part of the Third World, most of whose residents live without running water and electricity. Israel is not responsible for poverty there... They can get out of it - if they would live in peace with us. But we are truly not obligated to give them work and electricity... And anyway, in Sderot there was no electricity yesterday either."
Palestinian Authority terrorists fired a Kassam rocket at Ashkelon on Wednesday. Rockets have been fired at Sderot, Ashkelon and environs almost every day for the past two weeks.