There is a currently a serious humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It was at the start of this year subject to brutal attacks from Israel, who violated international law by killing many civilians and using weapons such as phosphorous bombs (which are banned for use in civilian areas) Many people are left horribly scarred physically and mentally and 100,000 people have been made and remain homeless. Compounding the suffering is the illegal siege crippling its people by denying them access to vital supplies and building materials to repair the damage the war caused to the infrastructure. What this has done to Gaza is turn it into a prison. It is hard to get any thing in and once Palestinians leave Gaza (For example to seek medical help) it is almost impossible for them to return.

This appears to be pure and simple ethnic cleansing on Israel's part.

It is our duty as civilised civilians to help end this at once.

Click here to watch a recent video from inside Gaza

The War - Operation 'Cast Lead'

On 27 December 2008, without warning, Israeli forces began a devastating bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip codenamed Operation “Cast Lead”. Its stated aim was to end rocket attacks into Israel by armed groups affiliated with Hamas and other Palestinian factions. By 18 January 2009 some 1,400 Palestinians had been killed and large areas of Gaza had been razed to the ground. Amnesty International believes that the deaths of so many unarmed civilians and the manner in which they came under attack demand a thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the conduct of all parties in the conflict.

(Amnesty International - http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE15/015/2009/en)

The Blockade

Israel has for many years restricted entry to and exit from Gaza, but it intensified its blockade of Gaza in June 2007, when Hamas took over. The aim has been to isolate Hamas and to pressure it to stop militant rocket fire.

Since, the strip's population have been relying on less than a quarter of the volume of imported supplies they received in December 2005. At times, significantly less than that has gone into the strip, causing severe shortages.

Only basic humanitarian items have been allowed in, and virtually no exports permitted, paralysing the economy.

In the wake of the Hamas takeover, Israel said it would allow only basic humanitarian supplies into the strip. No specific list of what is and is not classed as humanitarian exists, although aid agencies say permitted items generally fall into four categories - human food, animal food, groceries (cleaning products, nappies etc) and medicines.

In September 2007, the Israeli government declared the Strip a "hostile entity" in response to continued rocket attacks on southern Israel, and said it would start cutting fuel imports.

Fuel shortages and a lack of spare parts have had a heavy knock-on impact on sewage treatment, waste collection, water supply and medical facilities.

Israel maintains the blockade has at no point caused a humanitarian crisis - but in early 2008, a group of aid agencies described the situation as exactly that, and the worst situation in the strip since Israel occupied it in 1967. The blockade has been criticised as collective punishment by, among other, the United Nations.

(BBC -http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5122404.stm)