News

Five Palestinian patients have died in the past 24 hours in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing Israeli siege of the region, an official says.

Rami Abdo, spokesperson of the Popular Committee Against the Siege, added that a three-month old infant who suffered from a heart disease was among the dead.

The patients died because Tel Aviv refuses to permit them to leave the strip for medical treatment, he said, adding Gaza hospitals can not provide the necessary medical treatment especially to patients with critical conditions.

The spokesman voiced an appeal to Egypt to intervene and enable the patients to leave Gaza in order to receive the needed medical treatment, International Middle East Media Center said.

Currently, dozens of patients suffering from serious illnesses are facing death as a result of the blockade.

Israel has imposed the siege on the impoverished territory of 1.5 million Palestinian people since last June causing a humanitarian crisis. More than 220 patients have so far died due to the siege, most of them children and elderly.