The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
No evacuation order given before Kamal Adwan Hospital strike, says WHO
One of the last partially functional health centres in northern Gaza was reportedly hit again overnight into Friday by several strikes, leaving four health workers among the casualties and the dead, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
“All night, there was heavy bombing around the Kamal Adwan Hospital”, said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the UN health’s agency Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Speaking from Gaza to journalists in Geneva, he reported that an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank was seen outside the hospital early in the morning, around 4am, while people were told to move out the health centre. “There was no official evacuation order,” he maintained, only rumours that spread panic. “People started to climb the wall to escape, and this panic attracted IDF fire. There are reports of deaths and arrests.”
The UN health agency official maintained that few aid supplies and emergency health teams have reached Kamal Adwan since the beginning of the Israeli military operation in Gaza's far north early October. This has left the hospital without most supplies, including fuel.
After seven weeks of unsuccessful attempts and denied humanitarian missions, an international Emergency Medical Team (EMT) with basic supplies was finally deployed to Kamal Adwan “less than a week ago”, explained Dr. Peeperkorn. The team comprised two surgeons, two emergency nurses, one gynaecologist and one logistician. The EMT deployment had been denied at least five times in the past few weeks. Their mission was cut short.
“They are just there, and within one week they are gone again. This is not only for me incomprehensible but also incredibly, incredibly sad,” said Dr. Peeperkorn, who added that no surgeons remain at Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Since October 2023, 58 per cent of the 273 WHO-led missions inside Gaza have been either denied, cancelled or impeded.
This has added to the urgent but extremely difficult task of evacuating patients who need medical support. Since 7 Oct 2023 and the start of the war sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel, 5,325 patients have been evacuated from Gaza. Almost 5,000 travelled via the Rafah crossing before its closure last 7 May, including 4,000 children. The UN health agency estimates that at least 12,000 patients across Gaza still need medical evacuation to survive. Only 378 have been evacuated since the closure of Rafah.
At least 44,612 Palestinians have been killed and 105,834 wounded since the beginning of the war on October 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian health authorities. The majority of those killed were women and children.
Ends
Story: “Gaza Kamal Adwan Hospital attack – WHO” – 06 December 2024
Speakers:
- Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (speaking from Gaza)
TRT: 02’25”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 06 December 2024 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Geneva Press briefing
SHOTLIST
- Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley.
- Wide shot of the press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory: “There was no official evacuation order.”
- Medium shot of the press conference room and Dr. Peeperkorn on-screen via Zoom.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory: “All night, there was heavy bombing around the hospital around Kamal Adwan. Early in the morning, around 4 o’clock, there was an IDF tank seen outside the hospital and the people were kind of informed and were told that everyone had to move outside of the hospital.”
- Wide shot of the press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory: “People started to climb the wall to escape, and this panic attracted IDF fire. There are reports of deaths and also detentions, arrests.”
- Wide shot of journalists in the press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory: “We brought the Emergency Medical Team (EMT) ‘Mercy’ to Kamal Adwan just recently, less than a week ago. And we brought 10,000 litres of fuel, food parcels for patients and staff, blood units etc., including this EMT. And the EMT deployment had been denied for at least five times over the past two weeks.”
- Wide shot of journalists in the press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory: “So they are just there, and now within one week they are gone again. This is not only for me incomprehensible, but also incredibly, incredibly sad.”
- Medium shot of a technical operator at the back of the press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory: “Since 7 Oct 2023, in total, 5,325 patients have been evacuated outside Gaza. Of that, almost 5,000 were evacuated via the Rafah crossing before 7 May, including 4,000 children. We estimate that at least 12,000 patients across Gaza still need medical evacuation to survive.”
- Various shots of the press conference room.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO
UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount
Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday, But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.
1
1
1
Edited News
A war reporter from Lebanon who lost a limb in the line of duty is calling for an end to impunity for attacks against journalists.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) commemorated 160 years dedicated to connecting the world on Saturday, 17 May in Geneva, Switzerland, during the annual World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OCHA
Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege
Amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza into Friday killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas and pleaded for the blockade to end.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Deportations over recent months of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States of America, especially to countries other than those of their origin, raise a number of human rights concerns, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Over 50 child malnutrition deaths amid aid blockade; entire generation will be ‘permanently affected’ - WHO
In the aid desert of Gaza, malnourished children are dying while survivors can expect a lifetime of dire health problems, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF , UNRWA
Israel’s aid plan will force Gaza families to choose ‘between displacement and death’ – UN humanitarians
Israel’s plan to take control of relief assistance in Gaza risks increasing the suffering of families already exhausted by 18 months of war by putting their lives in danger and inciting more displacement, using aid as “bait”, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
UN Humanitarians reject Israeli plan to take over aid delivery
The reported Israeli proposal to deliver humanitarian supplies through hubs controlled by the military would be a breach of the core principles of neutral, impartial and independent aid delivery, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News , B-roll | OCHA
Gaza: ‘Worst-case scenario’ unfolds as two-month aid blockade deepens suffering - OCHA
Two months into a devastating aid blockade of Gaza food has run out and people are fighting over water amid relentless bombing, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said on Friday.
/Includes OCHA footage from Gaza City/
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Children in Gaza are going to bed starving, says aid agency
The biggest UN aid agency in Gaza on Tuesday condemned the two-month Israeli blockade on Gaza that has left families sharing a single tin of food at mealtime and the sick and injured without lifesaving medical help, amid daily bombardment.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine force frontline areas to empty: UNHCR
With Ukrainian cities still reeling from this week’s deadly Russian missile and drone attacks, communities on the front line continue to be targeted too, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday. “We also see attacks on frontline regions increasing and it's, as always, civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Funding and supply shortfalls for the UN World Food Programme (WFP)'s work in Ethiopia will halt lifesaving treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children at the end of the month. “We are at the breaking point,” it said on Tuesday.