Amid reports on Monday that two hostages have been rescued during
a raid by Israeli special forces in Rafah city, the head of the
UN World Health Organization (WHO) said that the spiralling
humanitarian crisis in Gaza is still not being met with anywhere
near sufficient aid relief.
“So far, we have delivered 447 metric tons of medical supplies to
Gaza, but it’s a drop in the ocean of need, which continues to
grow every day,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Hospitals in crisis
Only 15 out of 36 hospitals are still “partially or minimally
functional” in the enclave, Tedros said, amid fresh reports of
continuing intense bombardment by the Israeli military in
southern Gaza that accompanied the rescue mission of two Israeli
male hostages from the second floor of a building in Rafah.
“Health workers are doing their best in impossible
circumstances,” the WHO Director-General
continued, as he echoed widespread concerns among the
international community about recent attacks on Rafah, “where the
majority of Gaza’s population has fled from the destruction to
the north”.
Fresh appeals
“WHO continues to call for safe access for humanitarian personnel
and supplies, we continue to call for hostages held by Hamas to
be released and we continue to call for a ceasefire,” Tedros
said, in his address to the World
Governments Summit in Dubai.
In a related development over the weekend, the UN agency for
Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, reported that a food
shipment for 1.1 million people remained “stuck at (an) Israeli
port” owing to recent restrictions imposed by the Israeli
authorities.
“Some 1,049 containers of rice, flour, chickpeas, sugar and
cooking oil are stuck as families in Gaza face hunger and
starvation,” the UN agency said in a tweet.
Rafah torment
Some 1.5 million people now shelter in
Rafah, close to the border with Egypt. This is a full
six times the pre-war population, UNWRA noted, in its latest update on the
war, which was prompted by Hamas-led terror attacks that left
some 1,200 Israeli and foreign nationals butchered and more than
250 taken hostage on 7 October.
Along with “increased” airstrikes in Rafah, the UN agency
reported that intense deadly fighting has continued in and around
Khan Younis further north, with damage to UNWRA’s largest shelter
in the south of the enclave, the Khan Younis Training Centre,
which has pushed thousands more Palestinians towards Rafah.
UNRWA “will not be able to effectively or safely run
operations from a city under assault from the Israeli
army,” it said, citing Thomas White, Director of UNRWA
Affairs in Gaza.
Highlighting the desperate need for more humanitarian aid
deliveries into the Strip, the UN agency noted that
the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel had remained
closed since Wednesday 7 February because
protesters had continued to block it.
“Critical supplies to meet food insecurity continue to be blocked
due to lack of Israeli authorities’ approvals to move flour from
the Israeli port of Ashdod into the Gaza Strip,” the UNWRA
situation report also noted.
