If there is a hell on earth today, its name is northern Gaza, UN humanitarians say
After reports that Israel has agreed to implement four-hour pauses in the fighting in areas of northern Gaza to allow civilians to move south, UN humanitarians on Friday reiterated urgent calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and unimpeded, secure access of aid deliveries into the Palestinian enclave.
“If there is a hell on earth today, its name is northern Gaza. People who remain there, the corners of their existence is death, deprivation, despair, displacement and, literally, darkness,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office, OCHA. He added that “the entire” Gaza Strip had been plunged into darkness since 11 October, when the electricity grid was shut down and fuel was stopped from entering.
OCHA reported that hundreds of thousands of people remaining in the north continue to struggle to find the bare minimum of water and food to survive. All municipal water wells have shut down again due to the lack of fuel, halting the supply of water for domestic non-drinking uses.
An Naser Children’s Hospital in Gaza city was hit during an airstrike, reportedly killing three people and injuring dozens more.
“What do you tell your children in such a situation? It's almost unimaginable that the firework that they see in the sky is out to kill them, because that's what it looks like. So, of course, we advocate for a humanitarian pause, for a humanitarian ceasefire that covers the entirety of the of the Strip,” Mr. Laerke told reporters at the United Nations in Geneva.
OCHA reported that on Wednesday some 50,000 people fled areas to the north of Wadi Gaza, a valley that separates the northern from the southern part of Gaza, through a “corridor” opened by the Israeli military. Images showed people walking, pushing wheelchairs with elderly and displaced people, or using donkey karts. The development will only worsen the already massively overcrowded facilities of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) whose facilities are already overwhelmed by the number of people seeking refuge from Israeli bombardments.
“We have heard that some facilities are at full-time capacities. Other facilities are at 10 times capacities. We hear stories of one toilet per 160 people, one shower per 700 people. These are just mind-boggling figures. And it gives you an idea of the day-to-day human challenges in terms of preserving people's human dignity,” Mr. Laerke said.
According to OCHA, prior to the current crisis, 500 trucks a day on average crossed into the enclave. Mr. Laerke noted that “yesterday, a total of 65 trucks carrying food, medicines, health supplies, bottled water, blankets and hygiene products, as well as seven ambulances crossed from Egypt into Gaza via the Rafah crossing. That brings the total number of trucks that have entered Gaza since the 21st of October to 821.”
Amid fresh reports on Friday morning that a yard at the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where thousands of displaced Palestinians were sheltering, was struck by bombardments, Dr. Margaret Harris, spokesperson for the UN World Health Agency (WHO) said that 20 out of a total of 36 hospitals in Gaza had been destroyed.
“We've lost 20 (hospitals), that means we've got 16 (remaining). But [they] are not functioning in the way you or I would recognize a hospital functioning,” said Dr. Harris. “They are managing to keep the bare minimum of services and receive people. But they are not being able to function where they do not have any of the adequate supplies. They do not have the anesthetic medications. They do not have the disinfectants, and they are massively, massively overcrowded.”
WHO said they are “desperately concerned” about the levels of infectious diseases. The WHO reported that they are seeing diarrhoea rates surging massively. “We normally see 2,000 cases per month. We're seeing over 22,000, cases and huge numbers of respiratory infections that still spread everywhere.”
In addition, WHO’s Dr. Harris reported that “we are seeing crush injuries, burns and yes, indeed, people have severe damage to their bones, having been under rubble, having been crushed.”
The WHO spokesperson reiterated that “once we have access, I'm sure orthopedic surgeons will be very, very welcome. But the critical thing, as I said, is we need safe access and a means to provide those teams in a way where they can truly support the health system and that the beleaguered doctors and nurses who are doing extra ordinary things under impossible conditions.”
-ends-
STORY: Humanitarian crisis in Gaza - OCHA - WHO
TRT: 3:54”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 10 November 2023 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
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.