WHO says no security guarantees for aid deliveries to hospitals in northern Gaza

While limited aid delivery began last weekend to the blockaded Gaza Strip, there are no security guarantees for getting aid to hospitals in the northern strip, the World Health Organisation warned on Tuesday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Underlining the “huge risk” for people delivering relief, Rick Brennan, WHO Regional Emergencies Director for the Eastern Mediterranean region, told a press briefing in Geneva,

We do not have security guarantees to deliver aid to Al-Shifa Hospital” – the region’s largest hospital – or other hospitals in the north

So delivering aid to that part of the Gaza Strip is currently not possible, Brennan said.

“WHO remains unable to distribute essential, live-saving health supplies, delivered through the Rafah crossing into Gaza on 21 and 22 October, to key referral hospitals in northern Gaza due to the ongoing hostilities and lack of security guarantees,” he said.

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“Awaiting WHO supplies are some of the largest, most important health centres in Gaza such as Al-Shifa hospital, where bed occupancy is already at close to 150 per cent, and the Turkish hospital, which is the main provider of services for cancer patients,” Brennan added.

WHO calls for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire so these supplies can be delivered safely throughout the area, he said.

He noted that the UN agency has additional medicines and medical equipment on standby across the border in Egypt that are enough to provide surgical interventions for 3,700 trauma patients, basic and essential health services for 110,000 people and care for 20,000 chronic disease patients.

 Health facilities urgently need fuel

“Fuel is also needed urgently,” the WHO Regional Emergencies Director emphasised, as health facilities inside the Gaza Strip that remain functional are facing severe shortages of fuel to operate, leaving thousands of patients more vulnerable.

They included 1,000 patients dependent on dialysis, 130 premature babies who need a range of care, and patients in intensive care or requiring surgery who depend on a stable and uninterrupted supply of electricity to stay alive, according to Brennan.

On Monday, he said, WHO and UNRWA delivered 34,000 litres of fuel to four major hospitals in southern Gaza and the Palestine Red Crescent Society to sustain its ambulance services.

“However, this was only enough to keep ambulances and critical hospital functions running for a little over 24 hours,” he said.

He stressed that “one-third of all hospitals were now not functioning,” adding:

Not only were the health facilities and workers overwhelmed by the large number of injuries, but the disruption of the health system also meant that people with chronic diseases were finding it more and more difficult to access services they needed, and it was expected that their mortality rate would also increase

Last week, Israel ordered the northern Gaza Strip evacuated, despite international aid groups saying making over a million people move south would cause a humanitarian disaster. But many tens of thousands of residents of the north, including the ill, elderly, and poor, have been unable to make the journey.

READ: UN says lack of fuel in Gaza of ‘great concern’ as supplies run out

Brennan and WHO spokesperson, Tarik Jasarevic – both joining the briefing virtually from Cairo, Egypt – as well as UNRWA spokesperson, Tamara Alrifai, could not confirm whether another aid convoy would be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

A third convoy of 20 aid trucks entered the Rafah crossing from Egypt to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, according to a Palestinian spokesman.

The UN says the Strip needs around 100 relief trucks per day to address the growing humanitarian needs there.

US’ plan to deploy more troops

Responding to Anadolu’s question of whether the planned deployment of additional American troops to the Middle East would further escalate the tension, Rolando Gomez, a UN spokesperson in Geneva, said that the UN prefers not to comment on national decisions.

“We will not comment on any national decision. But of course, the overarching message is … We want the de-escalation of the conflict,” he said.

“We want certainly a humanitarian access, we want to increase that access and all the conditions are needed for that, including safety and security,” Gomez added.

On 7 October, Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas into Israeli border towns. Israel also put the territory’s 2.3 million residents under total siege, blockading food, fuel and medical supplies.

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has called for an “immediate humanitarian cease-fire” to ease the “epic human suffering”.

Nearly 6,500 people have been killed in the conflict, including at least 5,087 Palestinians and more than 1,400 Israelis.

READ: Gaza neonatal unit warns babies at risk ‘within minutes’ if power fails