The humanitarian situation is getting worse as the war in the Gaza Strip enters its 63rd day, amid continuing international warnings about the serious health situation experienced by the residents of the Strip in shelter centers, the failure of sufficient relief trucks to enter from the only Rafah crossing that operates in the Strip, and demands to open the Abu Salem crossing to bring in aid.
International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Fabrizio Carbone told Manhattan Tribune yesterday, Thursday, that the numbers do not reflect the extent and magnitude of the tragedy that the people of Gaza are experiencing, stressing that many of the injured and parents are still searching for places to treat their children.
He added that doctors in the Gaza Strip are making difficult choices amid the shortage of humanitarian supplies, and the possibility of diseases spreading through the air in the absence of a sanitation system.
Siege of the North
In the north of the Gaza Strip, there is no longer any health cover. The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, told Al-Jazeera yesterday that the Strip’s hospitals, especially in the north, have completely lost their capacity.
He pointed out that the health and humanitarian situation in shelters is catastrophic, and that the displaced are exposed to the risk of famine and epidemics.
While World Health Organization Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the siege of Al Awda Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip is very worrying, stressing the need to protect patients and health care workers who are still inside the hospital.
Insufficient efforts
For his part, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, yesterday criticized the insufficient humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip, stressing that there is no operation that can be called “humanitarian” so far in Gaza.
Despite the entry of aid trucks through the Rafah border crossing, Griffiths stressed that the current relief operation in the Gaza Strip is unsustainable and cannot withstand, and that there is no safe place in the Strip.
The United Nations stated earlier that the Palestinians are being forced to head to southern Gaza, but they cannot find safe areas.
Need for a ceasefire
The overcrowding of shelter centers in the south of the Gaza Strip has raised concerns among health organizations about the possibility of the spread of diseases as a result of the lack of food and clean water.
For its part, the United Nations Migration Agency warned of the massive displacement in Gaza and the alarming humanitarian conditions.
She stressed that an immediate ceasefire is needed to provide enough food, water and other necessities to save lives and alleviate the enormous suffering of civilians.
UN reports reported the displacement of an estimated 1.9 million people in the Gaza Strip, most of whom lack basic necessities such as food, water, shelter, and sanitation facilities, as well as medical care.
“Promising” indicators
Griffiths also indicated that he sees some “promising indications” that the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip could be opened soon to allow aid to enter, especially into the northern Gaza Strip, adding that negotiations are still ongoing.
Griffiths added that talks are ongoing regarding the possibility of delivering aid to the Gaza Strip from Jordan and the occupied West Bank, saying that the UN representative in Jordan is arranging for the possibility of delivering aid by land from the Kingdom via the King Hussein Bridge to the Kerem Shalom crossing.
60% of the goods entering the besieged Strip passed through the Kerem Shalom crossing before the start of the Israeli aggression.
