Amsterdam wants to shelter wounded Palestinians; Dutch aircraft set for Gaza food drops

A majority of Amsterdam’s city council is asking the mayor and aldermen to shelter wounded Palestinians from Gaza in the capital. According to the coalition parties PvdA, GroenLinks, and D66, as well as the parties VOLT, DENK, and SP, there is “no excuse to wait.” They think the city must "take the lead" in the Netherlands and treat Palestinians "unconditionally and with urgency."

Eight city council members wrote this on behalf of their parties in a letter to the municipal executive. In it, they urge the city government to raise "the need for medical evacuations from Gaza" with the national government, either independently or in collaboration with other municipalities. They also propose exploring, together with Amsterdam hospitals and civil society organizations, what the city can do for the Palestinians.

The parties of the signatories hold 30 of the 45 seats on the Amsterdam city council.

The urgency to provide shelter for Palestinians will only be accelerated as a doctor from the Erasmus MC warned that a disease is currently spreading in Gaza that causes paralysis of the respiratory muscles within a matter of hours.

Loretta Plomp, a physician-researcher, has been researching the disease with doctors in the Israeli-blockaded area. They have identified at least a hundred people with the condition and several fatalities, though the actual number is likely much higher.

The cause of the paralytic disease is still unknown, Plomp said. Research and containment are difficult under the current conditions: high population density, poor sanitation, contaminated drinking water, and famine.

The disease resembles both polio and the rare Guillain-Barré syndrome. Plomp specializes in the latter, a neurological disorder that weakens or paralyzes muscles over the course of days or weeks. The difference, according to Plomp, is that the illness in Gaza progresses much more rapidly. She does not rule out the possibility of a new disease.

The Erasmus MC reported that they were not involved in Plomp's research. The hospital has been approached by the World Health Organization to join an international research group studying paralysis diseases in Gaza, according to a spokesperson. Discussions about this “are still in an exploratory stage,” the Erasmus MC said.

The research group would fall under the responsibility of neurologist Bart Jacobs at Erasmus MC, with physician-researcher Plomp expected to contribute to the project.

Some form of aid for the Palestinians from the Netherlands is on the way as the military transport plane departed from Eindhoven airport at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. The plane will be dropping aid packages above Gaza for two weeks starting Friday.

The last supplies were loaded just before departure to Jordan, where an aid organization will be supplying the food packages. The airplane, a C-130, will be used to drop 16 pallets with 1,000 kilograms of food every day. The packages contain basic supplies such as flour, rice, and baby formula. The packages also include some medical items.

Besides the Netherlands, other countries conducting food drops over Gaza include the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Spain, France, and Germany.