Palestinian patients wait for treatment at Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. (Wissam Nassar, Maan Images)

One look at Majda's face and I felt consumed by her overwhelming pain. For a month Majda has lived on edge, knowing how ill her father was in Gaza and knowing he may die before she would be allowed to enter into Gaza's closed gates.

Majda told me it was not her father's death that pained her as much as knowing how worthless his life and his dignity had become, not only to a world that continues to turn a blind eye to Gaza's misery, not only to the Israelis who have hardened their hearts to the Palestinian suffering, not only to Egypt that continues to act as jailer of Gaza's population, but even to the Palestinian leaders. His illness was exploited by Fatah and his death was exploited by Hamas.

Majda's father was in need of kidney dialysis. For a month he was in severe pain. His suffering was prolonged as shortages of drugs and spare parts for equipment in Gaza's Shifa hospital reached critical levels as a direct result of the imposed siege. If this was not enough for Majda's father, and for the countless other patients who lingered in the Shifa's corridors reeking of illness and death, Fatah had called for a strike in the health sector. In other words, medical staff were told by Fatah that they would only receive their salaries if they stayed home.

The decision of Fatah union leaders, representing teachers and health workers, to strike until the end of this year was designed to weaken Hamas's support base in the besieged strip. However, Fatah's decision has been criticized by many international observers, as it caused grave harm to Gaza's medical patients and school children, while failing its objective of weakening the Hamas faction.

Many doctors and teachers heeded Fatah's call and stayed home. After all, the siege has lead to basic food shortages, and whatever supplies were available in the market were sold only to the highest bidder. No one in his right mind in Gaza wants the risk of losing a salary.

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