European lawmakers said Thursday they were shocked and appalled by conditions in the Gaza Strip after a recent fact-finding mission there and called on Israel to stop violating human rights. The 10 members of the European Parliament said in a joint statement that they were "shocked and appalled by what we have seen and experienced in Gaza".
"Due to economic sanctions, almost all public institutions have shut down. The hospitals are overcrowded and receive neither money nor sufficient medicine. The public employees have not been paid for months," they said.
The cross-party group of deputies said that the closure of the Rafah and Karni border crossings in the impoverished Palestinian territory was "making Gaza an open sky prison".
Conditions in Gaza have rapidly declined amid an international boycott of the Hamas-led government, which came to power earlier this year, because it refuses to recognise Israel, renounce violence or accept past peace accords.
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