Gaza (Union)
United Nations agencies announced that the aid entering the Gaza Strip represents a first step, but it is insufficient and is only a small beginning, and that 1.6 million people in the Strip are in “critical” need of humanitarian relief.
This came as international relief organizations evacuated their employees from a hospital in the central Gaza Strip due to increasing military attacks.
Five United Nations agencies announced that the relief convoy that entered Gaza the day before yesterday, through the Egyptian Rafah crossing, is providing life-saving aid to civilians, but it is not sufficient at all, and is only a small beginning.
The five agencies that issued the statement are: the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization.
The five agencies indicated, in a joint statement, that “the first, albeit limited, shipment of life-saving humanitarian supplies from the Egyptian Red Crescent and the United Nations entered the Gaza Strip on Saturday on board 20 trucks.”
The statement said, “This aid is a lifeline for some of the hundreds of thousands of civilians, most of whom are women and children, who have been cut off from water, food, medicine, fuel, and other basic supplies.”
UN agencies pointed out the inadequacy of this aid, and said that more than 1.6 million people in Gaza are in critical need of humanitarian relief, and that children, pregnant women, and the elderly remain the most vulnerable groups.
The agencies said: “Time is running out before the death toll rises dramatically due to disease outbreaks and limited health care capacity, with much of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure destroyed or damaged during nearly two weeks of continuous bombardment, including on shelters, health facilities, and water and sanitation systems.” Health and electricity.
In a related context, Doctors Without Borders announced the withdrawal of its employees from the central region of the Gaza Strip, including Al-Aqsa Hospital, against the backdrop of increasing Israeli army attacks.
The International Medical Care Organization said in a statement that it is facing difficulty in evacuating its employees and their families from Gaza, and announced the withdrawal of its staff from Al-Aqsa Hospital.
Carolina Lopez, the organization’s emergency coordinator at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza, said: “With a heavy conscience, we must evacuate our staff, while patients and hospital workers, and many people seeking safety, remain in the hospital buildings,” according to the same statement.
The international organization confirmed that it “took this difficult decision to evacuate its employees and their families from the central region of Gaza following the evacuation order issued by the Israeli forces through leaflets dropped from the air in the neighborhoods surrounding the hospital.”
She said, “The situation took such a dangerous turn that some employees living in the surrounding areas were unable to leave their homes due to constant threats from drones and snipers.”
She stressed that “patient care is negatively affected by the decrease in the number of employees in the hospital.”
Lopez added, “Under international humanitarian law, Israel must protect patients and workers in the only functioning hospital in the central region of Gaza.”
Doctors Without Borders concluded its speech by saying: “We strongly call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, to prevent further deaths and injuries.”
Meanwhile, the Civil Defense in Gaza said yesterday that there are more than 8,000 missing people under the rubble as a result of the Israeli bombing of the Strip since last October 7, indicating the loss of 43 of its crew members, and the injury of more than 180 others.
He added that 10 civil defense centers out of 18 centers in Gaza were destroyed, and that the Israeli army deliberately destroyed the entire infrastructure in the Strip.
He called on the international community, the United Nations, and human rights organizations to act immediately and urgently to stop the war being waged on the Gaza Strip, and to intervene immediately to protect the remaining civil defense crews.
He added, “Civil Defense did not receive any quantities of fuel, which led to the disruption of more than 70% of our operational capabilities.”
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