PA opposes construction of new hospital in Gaza

The PA claimed that the project was being carried out with the blessing and support of the US administration.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Palestinian midwife Sara Abu Taqea (L), 23, who works in the maternity ward at Gaza's Al-Ahli hospital, speaks with her colleague at the hospital in Gaza City, February 10, 2019. (photo credit: REUTERS/SAMAR ABO ELOUF)
Palestinian midwife Sara Abu Taqea (L), 23, who works in the maternity ward at Gaza's Al-Ahli hospital, speaks with her colleague at the hospital in Gaza City, February 10, 2019.
(photo credit: REUTERS/SAMAR ABO ELOUF)
The Palestinian Authority said on Thursday that it is strongly opposed to the building of a new field hospital in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
The PA claimed that the project was being carried out with the blessing and support of the US administration.
The 10-acre hospital in northern Gaza was donated by the US nonprofit organization Friendship and is partially funded by Qatar.
Hamas said this week that the construction of the hospital is in the context of the ceasefire understandings reached with Israel last April, under the auspices of Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
A Hamas spokesperson said on Wednesday that the construction of the hospital “has no political connotations.”
On Tuesday, equipment for building the hospital entered Gaza through the Erez Crossing with Israel.
The PA Health Ministry said on Thursday that it was “categorically opposed to any project that affects Palestinian sovereignty, Palestinian rights and the Palestinian national project.”
Noting that the construction of the hospital was not coordinated with the PA government in Ramallah, the ministry expressed “concern” over the project, and said it was an “attempt to whitewash the image of the Israeli occupation, whose hands are stained with Palestinian blood.”
The ministry claimed that the hospital project was also part of an Israeli plan to “permanently separate the West Bank from the Gaza Strip.” This project, the ministry said, “seeks to achieve Israeli goals aimed at liquidating and fragmenting the Palestinian cause” and create a mini Palestinian state in Gaza.
“How can the US, which has cut off financial aid to [Arab] hospitals in Jerusalem, support the establishment of a hospital in the Gaza Strip, unless the real purpose behind it is to harm the Palestinians and destroy their rights?” the PA ministry asked in a statement. “If the project was innocent and aims to serve our people, why aren’t the existing hospitals of the Gaza Strip being developed? If this project was innocent, why is it being planned secretly?”