A coalition of UN and international aid agencies on Wednesday called on Israel to open crossing points into the Gaza Strip to save its deteriorating health sector from collapse.

The UN agencies and the Association for International Development Agencies (AIDA), representing over 80 NGOs, released the call one year after the end of Israel's major military offensive against Gaza during which as many as 1,400 Palestinians had been killed.

"The continuing closure of the Gaza Strip is undermining the functioning of the health care system and putting at risk the health of 1.4 million people in Gaza," the statement quoted Max Gaylard, the resident humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), as saying.

The closure "is causing on-going deterioration in the social, economic and environmental determinants of health. It is hampering the provision of medical supplies and the training of health staff and is preventing patients in serious conditions from getting timely specialized treatment outside Gaza," Gaylard added.

Israel sealed off Gaza since June 2007 after Islamic Hamas movement seized control of the coastal strip. Israel says the sanctions were aimed at isolating Hamas, but observers and the international organizations argue that the siege is taking toll on the ordinary people and the quality of services they get, mainly the healthcare sector.

From the health perspective, "an effective health care system cannot be sustained in isolation from the international community, " said Tony Laurance, the head of the World Health Organization ( WHO)'s office in the OPT.

As a result of the restrictions, health professionals in Gaza have been cut off from the outside world, the statement said, adding that only a few doctors are lucky to travel and get access to advanced training abroad. Moreover, certain types of medical equipment, such as X-ray equipment and electronic devices are very difficult to bring in.

The organizations also warned that the health sector would face "serious problems in dealing with another emergency on the scale of last year's Operation Cast Lead."

(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2010)