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Palestinian factions feud over responsibility for Gaza hospitals’ neglect

Who is responsible for the sorry state of Gaza’s hospitals? Hamas and Fatah are blaming each other.

By: World Israel News Staff

The Fatah and Hamas factions exchanged accusations and threats on Monday over the responsibility for neglect of hospitals in Gaza.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum charged the Palestinian Authority (PA), headed by Fatah, with a “deliberate failure to fulfill the Gaza Strip hospitals’ needs of fuel and medicine,” which he identified as “contribut[ing] to the collapse of the situation in Gaza.”

Hamas holds the PA “responsible for this collapse and its consequences and calls upon all Palestinians to confront this deliberate abandonment of Gaza and its people,” Barhoum added.

Hamas has full control of the Gaza Strip.

In response, the PA “strongly criticized” Hamas and accused it of “distorting facts” by claiming that it ignores Gaza’s medical needs.

The PA said in a statement following its weekly meeting held in Ramallah that it “was surprised” by Hamas’ “misleading campaign and distortion of the facts by claiming the government ignores” Gazan hospital’s fuel and medicine requirements.

The PA claims that two weeks ago it provided hospitals in Gaza with 40 truckloads of medicine and other hospital supplies worth $4 million, while “Hamas collects dues and taxes for its own treasuries and keeps all revenues its collects in the Gaza Strip while refusing to provide for the needs of hospitals and other institutions, which it can provide for from the revenues its collects while it refuses to transfer the money to the general treasury.”

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The PA further accused Hamas of selling fuel it gets from Egypt to private companies at a high price, rather than using it to increase the electricity output in the Strip.

Gaza currently suffers from a severe lack of electricity, although the situation has recently somewhat improved.

The PA further claimed that Hamas does not allow it to collect taxes and fees, an arrangement that was supposed to start this month. The terrorist organization has demanded that the PA pay the salaries of Hamas-hired civil servants as a condition of the PA’s power to collect taxes.

Hamas and Fatah have engaged in a reconciliation process in recent months, which is apparently on the road to failure. Both sides have accused each other of breaching the deal, while simultaneously hindering the other side’s fulfillment of its terms.