The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
UN humanitarians deplore unacceptable conditions for medical evacuations and humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza
UN humanitarians in conflict-ridden Gaza again expressed their deep discontent on Tuesday about the access llimitations imposed by the Israeli military for desperately needed aid operations. Last weekend, ambulances transporting patients in need of medical attention from the Al Amal hospital in Gaza's Khan Younis were halted for several hours by the Israeli Defense Forces, as paramedics were stripped of their clothes and other humanitarian staff detained, they said.
“The Israeli forces blocked the World Health Organization (WHO)-led convoy for many hours the moment it left the hospital. The Israeli military forced patients and staff out of ambulances and stripped all paramedics of their clothes,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at a UN press briefing in Geneva. “Three Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics were subsequently detained, although their personal details had been shared with the Israeli forces in advance, while the rest of the convoy stayed in place for over seven hours.”
Mr. Laerke explained that the UN had not "had any information or any communication from the Israeli authorities why this clearly notified movement, which they, by the way, acknowledged that we had sent them the notification, was still detained, as I said, at least seven hours.”
One paramedic has now been released, according to OCHA, who are appealing for the immediate release of the other two, as well as all other detained health workers.
According to WHO, the 24 patients, including a pregnant woman, a mother and a newborn, had to be transferred to hospitals in Rafah as several of them required surgical intervention which could not be performed at Al Amal. Al Amal Hospital has been the epicenter of military operations in Khan Younis for nearly a month now. . Forty attacks on the hospital from 22 January to 22 February have at least 25 people and left the facilities non-functional, OCHA says.
“You can imagine being already transferred under life-threatening circumstances, not being able to move or being able to move and then being made to stand outside and having to wait for seven hours is pretty unimaginable,” said Christian Lindmeier, a spokesperson for WHO.
The WHO informed that only 12 out of 36 hospitals are “partially functioning in Gaza of which six are in the south and six in the north. However, 23 hospitals are not functioning at all." The inadequate facilitation aid delivery through Gaza means that humanitarian workers are unable to safely deliver aid both to northern Gaza and, increasingly, to parts of southern Gaza.
“No humanitarian aid has reached the North since 23 January,” noted Mr. Lindmeier. “That's over a month now, five weeks. WHO last time reached Al Shifa Hospital, for example, on 22 January. And the urgent access now of humanitarian aid is needed to avoid further preventable deaths from malnutrition and diseases.”
OCHA also raised alarms of the ineffectiveness of the current way of that goods must be brought into Gaza. “It is very complicated at the moment because there is only the opening into Gaza from the South, which means you have to traverse an entire war zone from the extreme south to the extreme north to deliver aid,” said OCHA’s spokesperson. “Whereas it would be much more logical, practical and efficient if we had border crossings directly in the north where we could just cross in and deliver aid.”
Describing Gaza as a “chaotic war zone”, Mr. Laerke added that “we acknowledge that we have tremendous difficulties distributing the aid that does get in across Gaza. That is certainly not a situation of our making. It is the war itself that creates it. On the top of our list of things that needs to happen, and there is no way around it, is a humanitarian cease fire.”
-ends-
STORY: Gaza Update OCHA-WHO
TRT: 3:21”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 27 February 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley at the United Nations Office in Geneva
- Medium shot: Speakers at the podium and journalists in Press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson: “The Israeli forces blocked the WHO-led convoy for many hours the moment it left the hospital. The Israeli military forced patients and staff out of ambulances and stripped all paramedics of their clothes. Three Palestinian Red Crescent Society paramedics were subsequently detained, although their personal details had been shared with the Israeli forces in advance, while the rest of the convoy stayed in place for over seven hours.”
- Medium shot: Journalists in press room with speaker on screen
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson: “We have not had any information or any communication from the Israeli authorities why this clearly notified movement, which they, by the way, acknowledged that we had sent them the notification, was still detained, as I said, at least 7 hours.”
- Wide shot: Press briefing room with speakers at podium and journalists
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Christian Lindmeier, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO): “You can imagine being already transferred under life threatening circumstances, not being able to move or being able to move and then being made to stand outside and having to wait for 7 hours is pretty unimaginable.”
- Wide shot: Journalists in press briefing listening with camerawomen filming
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Christian Lindmeier, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO): “No humanitarian aid has reached the North since 23 January. That's over a month now, five weeks. WHO last time reached Al Shifa Hospital, for example, on 22 January. And the urgent access, just over and over again now of humanitarian aid, is needed to avoid further preventable deaths from malnutrition and diseases.”
- Medium shot: Conference staff working in control room
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson: “It is very complicated at the moment because there is only the opening into Gaza from the south, which means you have to traverse an entire war zone from the south, extreme south, to the extreme north to deliver aid. Whereas it would be much more logical, practical and efficient if we had border crossings directly in the north where we could just cross in and deliver aid.”
- Medium shot: Spokespersons sitting at the podium
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson: “We acknowledge that we have tremendous difficulties distributing the aid that does get in across Gaza. That is certainly not a situation of our making. It is the war itself that creates it. On the top of our list of things that needs to happen, and there is no way around it, is a humanitarian cease fire.”
- Close up: journalist listening
- Medium shot: Camerawomen filming with conference staff in the control room behind
- Close up: journalist listening
Similar Stories
2
36
1
1
Edited News , Statements , Conferences , Images | HRC , OCHA , UNOG
A record 383 aid workers were killed last year with hundreds more wounded, kidnapped and detained, the UN’s top aid official said on Tuesday in a call for accountability, at a solemn ceremony in Geneva to mark World Humanitarian Day.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following statement at today’s biweekly press briefing in Geneva:
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“In Gaza, the Israeli army has intensified its attacks in the north of the strip,” UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told the biweekly press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , OCHA
Gaza: Aid insufficient to avert ‘widespread starvation’ as Israeli military ramp-up forces more people to flee
The small trickle of aid entering Gaza is totally insufficient to alleviate starvation and displacement in the Strip, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Hospitals continue to overflow with people injured while seeking food - WHO
As besieged Palestinian civilians face widespread malnutrition and starvation, hospitals in the Strip are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of victims of shootings and other injuries at food distribution areas, warns the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
2
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP
Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA
Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Aid agencies echoed wider warnings of growing signs of widespread starvation in Gaza on Tuesday, as UN-partnered international food security experts released their most dire assessment yet of the situation in the wartorn enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNDP , UNHCR
Sudan: urgent help needed as more than 1.3 million war-displaced people begin to return home
As conflict rages on across parts of Sudan, pockets of relative safety have emerged in the past four month, spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to make their way home, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A further 320,000 cross-border refugees have come back to Sudan since last year, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, to assess the current situation before deciding to return to their country for good.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: SOS messages describe people fainting from hunger; UN health worker detained
Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in Gaza who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.