Bi-weekly press briefing 12 December 2023

PRESS BRIEFING BY THE UNITED NATIONS INFORMATION SERVICE

12 December 2023

Rolando Gómez of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by the spokespersons and representatives of the World Health Organization.

Update on health issues in Gaza

Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, speaking from Gaza, said in just 66 days, the health system had gone from 36 functional hospitals, to 11 partially functional hospitals; 1 in the north and 10 in the south. Just 29 percent of primary health care facilities were partially functional. Dr. Peeperkorn had visited most of the hospitals in the South, where WHO had delivered essential medical and trauma supplies, also al-Ahli Arab Hospital, in the north on December 9. The North of Gaza looked like a wasteland and the devastation was enormous. A convoy had come through with six Palestinian Red Crescent Ambulances, two UN vehicles, an OCHA [Office of the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs] vehicle, and a truck filled with medical supplies. Al-Ahli Arab Hospital was the only partially functional hospital in the north. Mr. Peeperkorn said he had never seen scenes like this. Typically, this was an 80- bed hospital, yet there were more than 250 patients. The hospital grounds were full of internally displaced persons, with trauma patients and dead people on donkey carts. Every room, corridor and courtyard was filled with patients. It was utter chaos and a humanitarian disaster zone. The hospital was relying heavily on volunteers who were doing an amazing job. However, many of the seriously injured patients could hardly receive the nursing care they required. Many serious cases were being treated on the floors, in the corridor and in the chapel. Al-Aqsa Hospital was one of the better functional hospitals; usually it was a hospital for 200 patients but there were over 600 there currently, as well as internally displaced persons. WHO were trying to get more staff in to coordinate. All efforts needed to be made to keep current hospitals functional and to restore the health care system. It was important to get the primary health care system functional again.

Responding to questions, Dr. Peeperkorn, said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), together with WHO tried to get an assessment of the spread of disease. There was an enormous influx of internally displaced people, particularly in the Rafah area. The UNRWA shelters were completely full, and makeshift shelters could be seen everywhere. There had been more than 160,000 cases of acute respiratory infections, more than 60,000 cases of diarrhoea, and over 39,000 cases of skin diseases. There were also cases of jaundice, multiple traumas, spinal injuries and burns, among other injuries.

Providing aid in Gaza was incredibly complex and the needs were enormous. WHO was committed to stay and deliver and were doing everything possible to support the people of Gaza. 19 critical patients had been transferred from Al-Ahli Hospital, to the south of Gaza, where they could receive better treatment. The journey was extremely dangerous. On the way north, a Palestinian Red Crescent Society staff member was made to kneel at the checkpoint at gunpoint and taken out of sight. Finally, he returned, and the mission could move on. On the way south, the UN truck was again stopped at the Gaza check point and the same staff member was taken for interrogation. Numerous steps were taken to coordinate his release, but after over two and a half hours, a difficult decision was made to continue moving onwards without the staff member. The staff member was released later that night, following UN negotiations. He stated that he had been subject to humiliating and inhumane treatment.

Rolando Gómez for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) drew attention to the latest UNRWA update which stated that 134 UNWRA colleagues had been killed, with 1.1 million internally displaced persons sheltering in 154 UNRWA facilities.

Responding to further questions, Dr. Peeperkorn said he could not give exact figures on the number of children who had had limbs amputated. WHO needed a better overview, in collaboration with UNICEF, to answer these questions. Among the fatalities, there were an enormous number of women and children.

Dr. Peeperkorn said he didn’t see many people moving up north, but rather many people moving down south. The WHO convoys had been completely swarmed whenever they drove through, by people thinking they had food and water. Before the crisis, Gaza had 3,500 beds and a reasonable functional health system; now there were less than 1,500. WHO was very concerned; they could not afford to lose any more hospital beds. The south was now the backbone of the health system. Al-Shifa needed to be functional again; there were still many people in the north. WHO needed to be expanded and restore the functionality of the system. There were concerning stories about sieges and attacks on hospitals. Healthcare should always be protected and should never be a target.

The delays had been at military checkpoints; humanitarian actors were there to assist and needed to do so in a much more effective way. It became difficult to move safely and swiftly, and the delays meant less time at the hospitals on the other side. WHO hoped to receive updates on the four people, three from the Ministry of Health and one from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, who had also been detained during the Al-Shifa mission. The fact that their whereabouts were unknown was unacceptable and extremely concerning.

As of December 11, 18,209 had been killed and 49,645 injured with over 70 per cent being women and children. Kamal Adwan hospital had a limited number of patients and staff; WHO had not been ablet to access this hospital. Shifa Hospital was the best option to start functioning again and to expand the health services in the North for those in need.

Dr. Peeperkorn said WHO relied on figures from the Ministry of Health, and gathered their own statistics. From past experience, statistics had always been very well managed and reliable in Palestine. There was also a report and analysis on this topic in The Lancet. Hardly any hospitals were fully functional.

Responding to questions, Christian Lindmeier for the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that the Ministry of Health reported that the Kamal Adwan hospital was being forcefully evacuated. There were currently 68 patients inside the hospital, as well as 18 ICU patients, including six neonates. This put another hospital out of use and put patients out on the street. There was one partially functioning hospital in the north of Gaza and 10 in the South; there were no hospitals that were fully functioning.

Mr. Gómez remined the media that regular UNRWA updates and daily OCHA updates were being shared on the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, which should be consulted for the latest figures.

Announcements

Rolando Gómez for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) said events were taking place in Geneva today to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights. A statement by the High Commissioner from the opening of the high-level event this morning had been shared with the media.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres was in Dubai, where he was attending COP28; speaking to the media yesterday, he said now was the time for maximum ambition and maximum flexibility. The COP was scheduled to finish today, and the Secretary-General would remain in Dubai for the closing.

A statement by the Security Council strongly condemned the violence in Warrap State in South Sudan which claimed approximately 75 lives in November and 10 lives already in December. The Security Council was meeting publicly at 3 p.m. New York time today, to discuss the situation of Sudan and South Sudan.

No human rights treaty body meetings were taking place today. The Global Refugee Forum would take place at Palexpo, tomorrow through to Friday. The Forum was convened by five States, Colombia, France, Japan, Jordan, and Uganda, and co-hosted by the Swiss Government.

Today at 1 p.m., the Permanent Mission of Israel would hold a press stake out with Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar.

Also today, there would be a press stakeout by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) at 18:30 p.m. when UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk would deliver closing remarks to the press at the end of the two-day High-Level Event, marking 75 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

On Thursday, 14 December at 10:30 p.m, a European Union Press Conference would be held at Palexpo, at the Global Refugee Forum, to underscore the EU resettlement pledge 2024-2025.

Responding to questions, Christian Lindmeier for the World Health Organization (WHO), said there was no information about whether Dr. Tedros would address the human rights high-level event in Geneva.

Bi-weekly press briefing 12 December 2023

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