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2.1 Impact on public health and the broader socialdeterminants of healthThe FFM teams were not able within their timeframes to investigate the impactof the attacks on the primary healthcare system. Nor could the teams ascertainthe public health impact of extensive attacks on infrastructure (includingwater, sewerage and power generation, and public buildings and residentialresources) and on the environment (including explosive remnants of war andtoxic pollution of land, water, and air). These issues will undoubtedly represent alasting challenge for the residents of the Gaza Strip in years to come, especiallyin light of continued Israeli restrictions on entry of reconstruction teams andmaterials. In this regard, it is recommended that a detailed impact analysis beundertaken by water and sanitation engineers and toxicologists together withpublic health experts to examine both the extent and nature of the attacks (e.g.,whether a legitimate war target can be identified among those structures thatwere destroyed and/or whether the extensive damage suggests indiscriminateattack). In this examination, it will also be essential to assess the current andanticipated longer-term effect the destruction wrought by this conflict will haveon the broader social determinants of health of the population of the Gaza Strip.In this assessment, the implacable effects of the on-going occupation itselfmust be taken into account. By continuing to constrict the future economic andhuman development of the society (for example Gaza’s dependence on Israel forelectricity and food production and the marked restrictions on mobility and trade),the occupation exerts a dominant and grim impact on the health and humanrights of this population.As stated in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986), ‘health is…aresource for everyday life, not the objective of living.’ 159 The Charter lists 8‘prerequisites for health’ which are critical conditions that must exist for healthto be possible. These are: peace, shelter, education, food, income, a stable ecosystem,sustainable resources, social justice, and equity. The FFM notes thatthese basic, or foundational, prerequisites have been so disrupted in Gaza overthe past three wars-and even further eroded during these present attacks-that‘health’ will remain a precarious notion for some time.2.2 Psycho-social effects of the warThe physically and psychologically injured and disabled of this war will joinsurvivors of previous wars to swell the population of those suffering grievouspersonal assaults on their human potential and dreams of the future. They159See the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/conferences/previous/ottawa/en/accessed 5 Dec 2014See http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14897&LangID=E accessed 5 Dec 2014100

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