Privation Driving Gazans To Penile Enlargement

Pensions to the families of Palestinians killed while trying to kill Israelis are only being paid at 100%.

Rafah Crossing, Gaza Strip, March 8 – Life in this Palestinian coastal enclave has become so challenging under enforced Israeli and Egyptian border closures that the residents are displaying classic signs of suffering under siege: skyrocketing demand for cosmetic surgery, especially penis enlargement.

Blockaded on one side by an anti-Hamas Egypt and on the other by unlimited free electricity from Israel, men in Gaza now increasingly fall into desperation, with little choice but to make appointments for the implantation of supplementary erectile tissue in their reproductive organs. The crushing poverty and unemployment have translated into a sixfold increase in demand for several types of elective cosmetic surgery, a figure unmatched in any of the surrounding countries.

Plastic surgeons in the Gaza Strip report that Gaza residents are now asking for more breast enlargements, tummy tucks, Botox treatments, wrinkle removals, and male augmentation than ever before, a telltale sign of the economic doldrums and international isolation born of a years-old Israeli blockade of the territory. The blockade lets nothing in but everything essential for everyday living, including fuel oil, foodstuffs, cosmetics, free electricity, baby supplies, toiletries, paper goods, cleaning products, and anything else for which there is commercial demand.

“We have already expressed our concerns at the continuation of this worrisome trend,” says Chris Gunness, a spokesman for UNRWA, the UN agency that provides Palestinian refugees and their descendants with tens of millions of dollars in annual aid, and with education toward any solution to their plight that involves the destruction of Israel. “While it is true that these types of surgeries are less expensive in Gaza than most anywhere else in the world, the statistics nevertheless speak for themselves.”

The surgeons themselves are not complaining about the uptick in business, but observers and local officials alike call the situation nothing less than a ticking bomb. “We have no idea what people will do when things become even more desperate,” said Ministry of Health spokesman Ronje Remy. “The only solution is international pressure to remove the Zionist siege at once.” Another Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the only other remaining option would be the resumption of open warfare against Israel, a move statistically proven to reduce both availability of and demand for penile enlargement surgery.

A further manifestation of the economic and financial distress of Palestinians came to light this week in the announcement that because of a shortage of funding, pensions to the families of Palestinians killed while trying to kill Israelis would only be paid at 100%. President Mahmoud Abbas pleaded for international pressure on Israel to release tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, and not to use the funds to pay any part of the mounting debt the Authority owes the Israel Electric Corporation for all the power it continues to supply to Palestinian areas.