Fuel now the most vital commodity in Gaza amid fears of health care collapse
Fuel is essential to bring water, food and health care to Gazans in dire need, but supplies have not been provided in aid convoys to date, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
Since Saturday 21 October, three convoys of humanitarian supplies have reached the Gaza Strip from Egypt, a total of 54 trucks. “This breakthrough came after two weeks of full siege with no water, no medical supplies, no humanitarian supplies, no food and no fuel going in,” Tamara Alrifai, spokesperson of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) told reporters in Geneva.
Without fuel, “trucks cannot move and generators cannot produce electricity for hospitals, bakeries and water desalination plants,” stressed Ms. Alrifai.
The 54 aid trucks contained a mix of food, medical supplies and non-food items. They are a small fraction of the 500 trucks that used to enter Gaza every day before Hamas’s deadly and unprecedented 7 October incursion into Israel, including commercial trucks and at least 100 aid trucks, some 45 of them carrying fuel. “We see that the trucks that have come in so far are just a trickle in the face of the immense needs of people in Gaza,” she emphasized.
Echoing those concerns, the UN health agency WHO warned that as hostilities continue, Gaza’s health system is disintegrating. “One third of hospitals now are non-functioning just at the time when the medical burden is enormous. Around two thirds of clinics are non-functional,” said Dr. Rick Brennan, WHO Emergencies Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
Some WHO medicines and supplies from the three convoys allowed into the enclave through the Rafah crossing last Saturday have already been delivered to three key referral hospitals in southern Gaza and to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. But the UN health agency remains unable to distribute essential health supplies to key hospitals in northern Gaza due to the lack of security guarantees.
Awaiting WHO supplies are some of “the most important health centers in Gaza such as Al-Shifa hospital, which has a bed occupancy rate of 150 per cent, and the Turkish Hospital, which is the main provider of services for cancer patients. “We do not have security guarantees to deliver that aid,” explained Dr. Brennan.
WHO calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, for protected humanitarian operations so these supplies can be delivered safely.
With 1.4 million displaced people across the territory - almost two thirds of Gaza's population-, overcrowding combined with poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water is a major challenge to the health system. Briefing reporters from Cairo, Dr. Brennan said “there's only between one and three litres of clean water per person per day available to the displaced right now. And by international standards, we would expect at the bare minimum 15 litres per person per day.”
As people turn to contaminated water, the UN health agency fears that the spread of infectious diseases is just a matter of time. Respiratory tract infections and cases of diarrhoea are already on the rise growing but chicken pox and skin infections including scabies and head lice are also expected.
More than 5,000 people are reported to have been killed across Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, since Israel began its bombardment in response to the Hamas attack, in which at least 1,400 people were killed and 222 taken hostage.
Story: Gaza: humanitarian situation and aid – UNRWA, WHO
Speakers:
TRT: 2’44”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 24 Oct. 2023 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Geneva press briefing
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DRC faces a severe humanitarian crisis with 25M in need and rising conflict-related issues.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
A gimmer of good news emerged from Gaza on Tuesday as patients returned to at a newly reopened UN health centre in Khan Younis, six months after it was severely damaged and forced to close by heavy fighting, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN condemns attacks on Kyiv hospitals, calls for immediate action to protect civilians.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO
In Gaza, soaring temperatures, hunger and unsanitary conditions present an ever more deadly threat to a population under constant attack, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WMO , IFRC
Hurricane Beryl smashes into Caribbean, turns sights on Mexico As Hurricane Beryl’s destructive path shifted to Mexico on Friday after roiling the Caribbean, UN agencies and partners said that the emergency response was underway, before warning that a very long and damaging hurricane season looks increasingly likely.
1
1
2
Edited News | IOM , mcc , UNHCR
Refugees and migrants continue to face extreme forms of violence, exploitation and death on sea and on land across Africa as they attempt to leave the continent, UN agencies said on Friday, in an appeal to border authorities to do more to protect them.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk at the 56th Human Rigths Council, made the following update on the situation of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
New evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army for areas in southern Gaza are expected to impact 250,000 people, including eastern Khan Younis and Rafah, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: People are desperate, they need everything, says UN aid agency Panic and desperation now grip ordinary Gazans struggling to survive, UN humanitarians said on Friday, amid fuel shortages of fuel and dwindling supplies that have prevented aid teams from doing their job.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
UN aid teams and partner organizations remain deeply committed to delivering lifesaving supplies into Gaza, despite the increasing dangers of working there, the Organization’s top aid official said on Wednesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNRWA
Every day in Gaza 10 children lose one or both legs, says top UN aid official There’s been no let-up in the terrible human cost of the war in Gaza where 10 children lose one or both legs every day, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment and renewed fears of famine, a top UN aid official said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
A UN humanitarian freshly back from Gaza described on Tuesday seeing families dig makeshift septic tanks with spoons and shell-shocked toddlers who lost limbs under Israeli bombing, amid continuing obstacles to aid delivery.