Hundreds of thousands of besieged Palestinians still in northern Gaza face unprecedented hardship after being isolated by deadly Israeli military operations, while a medical convoy sent by the United Nations and partners was fired on in Gaza City, according to UN humanitarian officials. The development came as foreign ministers from the G-7 group of countries joined international calls on Wednesday for \u201chumanitarian pauses\u201d in the fighting to protect civilians, help bring in aid and support the release of more than 240 hostages held captive in Gaza since October 7.<\/p>\n
No bakeries are functioning in the north because of a lack of fuel, water and flour, and no food or bottled water has been distributed there in a week, according to OCHA, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office. Due to the lack of medical supplies, hospitals in the north now conduct surgery without anaesthesia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. Adding to the dire healthcare picture, OCHA reported that a convoy of five trucks from WHO and the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), escorted by two vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), came under fire on its way to deliver lifesaving medical supplies to the Shifa and Al-Quds hospitals in Gaza city on Tuesday. Two trucks were damaged and a driver was injured, but the convoy ultimately reached Al-Shifa Hospital and made its delivery, OCHA said, without identifying who was responsible for the firing. UNRWA confirmed on Wednesday night local time the delivery of WHO\u2019s much needed emergency medical supplies and medicines to the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, \u201cdespite huge risks to our staff and health partners\u201d. In a statement, the head of UNRWA, Phillipe Lazzarini, together with WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said it was only the second delivery of lifesaving supplies to the hospital since Israel\u2019s total siege of Gaza began. \u201cWhile welcome, the quantities we delivered are far from sufficient to respond to the immense needs in the Gaza Strip. The medical conditions at Al-Shifa \u2013 the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip and one of the oldest Palestinian health institutions \u2013 are disastrous,\u201d said the heads of WHO and UNRWA. \u201cThere are currently almost two patients for every bed available. The emergency department and wards are overflowing, requiring doctors and medical workers to treat wounded and sick patients in the corridors, on the floor, and outdoors,\u201d they added. Tens of thousands of displaced people have sought shelter in the hospital\u2019s parking lots and yards. \u201cAl-Shifa Hospital has traditionally been the most important health facility in Gaza. Its doctors, nurses and other workers have responded heroically to the current desperate situation. But they need more support. \u201cThe northern areas of Gaza cannot and should not be isolated nor deprived of the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Patients there cannot be denied the healthcare to which they are entitled and urgently need. Aid should reach the whole of Gaza,\u201d the top UN officials said. Briefing journalists in New York, UN Spokesperson St\u00e9phane Dujarric said the the number of UNRWA staff who have been killed during the continuing Israeli bombardment, has reached 99 \u2014 most of them Palestinians. Responding to questions, Dujarric said that \u201cwhen this conflict ends there will need to be accountability\u201d for the deaths. As deaths and injuries in Gaza continue rising, intense overcrowding and disrupted health, water, and sanitation systems pose an added danger: the rapid spread of infectious diseases, said the UN health agency in a statement, adding that \u201cworrying trends are already emerging.\u201d \u201cLack of fuel has led to the shutting down of desalination plants, significantly increasing the risk of bacterial infections like diarrhoea spreading as people consume contaminated water. Lack of fuel has also disrupted all solid waste collection, creating an environment conducive to the rapid and widespread proliferation of insects, rodents that can carry and transit diseases.\u201d The situation is particularly concerning for almost 1.5 million displaced people across Gaza, especially those living in severely overcrowded shelters with poor access to hygiene facilities and safe water, increasing risk of infectious diseases transmission, WHO noted. Meanwhile, Israeli bombardments continued across the Gaza Strip while Palestinian fighters continued launching projectiles toward Israel. Israeli troops are reportedly inside Gaza City in pursuit of Hamas fighters. OCHA said that the Israeli military reiterated its evacuation orders to residents in the north and on Tuesday, for the fourth consecutive day, opened a \u201ccorridor\u201d along a main traffic artery, giving residents a four-hour window to move southwards. UN monitors estimate that up to 15,000 people may have used this route. OCHA stressed that \u201cthe majority, including children, elderly people and people with disabilities, arrived on foot with minimal belongings\u201d. On Tuesday the Israeli army also renewed its evacuation orders for the Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City, the only paediatric facility in the north, \u201cclaiming that armed groups were using its premises and surroundings\u201d, OCHA said. According to Gaza\u2019s health authorities, such an evacuation would endanger the lives of dozens of children who are either on life support, undergoing kidney dialysis or relying on respirators. As many as a third of all buildings in northern Gaza have reportedly been destroyed or damaged, and a UN-appointed independent rights expert warned on Wednesday that systematic or widespread bombardment of housing, civilian objects and infrastructure are strictly prohibited by international humanitarian law, criminal law and human rights law. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, said that carrying out hostilities \u201cwith the knowledge that they will systematically destroy and damage civilian housing and infrastructure, rendering an entire city \u2013 such as Gaza city \u2013 uninhabitable for civilians is a war crime\u201d. In southern Gaza, finding food and water remains challenging, OCHA said. Eleven bakeries have been hit and destroyed since October 7 and \u201cthe only operative mill in Gaza\u201d is at a standstill due to a lack of electricity and fuel. OCHA said that bread is provided to bakeries \u201cintermittently\u201d and people queue for long hours in front of the functioning bakeries, where they risk being hit by airstrikes. Water entering from Egypt in bottles and jerry cans is \u201caddressing only four per cent of the residents\u2019 water needs per day\u201d, OCHA warned, based on an allocation of three litres per person per day for all purposes, including cooking and hygiene. On Tuesday, 81 trucks carrying food, medicines, health supplies, bottled water and hygiene products entered Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah crossing. In total, 650 aid trucks have entered Gaza since deliveries resumed on October 21. OCHA recalled that prior to the start of hostilities, an average of 500 truckloads entered Gaza every working day; WHO has called the amount of aid it has been able to provide so far \u201ca drop in the ocean\u201d compared to the vast needs. The UN has repeatedly called for more aid access to the enclave. On Thursday, UN relief chief Martin Griffiths will represent Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at an international conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza\u2019s civilians, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hundreds of thousands of besieged Palestinians still in northern Gaza face unprecedented hardship after being isolated by deadly Israeli military operations, while a medical convoy sent by the United Nations and partners was fired on in Gaza City, according to UN humanitarian officials. The development came as foreign ministers from the G-7 group of countries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-367024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n