Urgent Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza: Protecting Medical Infrastructure and Saving Lives

2024-01-25 09:52:18

The International Committee of the Red Cross explained in a statement issued today, “Currently, nearly two million people in the Gaza Strip have no choice but the Nasser Medical Complex and the European Gaza Hospital in the south of the Strip, which provide surgical services and advanced emergency medical services, and have sufficient bed capacity.” This is significant, although this is not enough for the current wounded and sick in various parts of Gaza,” according to what was reported by the Palestinian News Agency, “Wafa.”

The committee noted that less than 20% of the area of ​​the Gaza Strip, or regarding 60 square kilometers, is now a refuge for more than 1.5 million displaced men and women, and they live in desperate conditions in the south of the Strip, where the escalation of fighting threatens their chances of survival.

She explained that all hospitals in the Gaza Strip suffer from severe overcrowding and limited medical supplies, fuel, food, and water, and many of them house thousands of displaced families.

Director of the International Committee’s sub-delegation in Gaza, William Schomburg, said: “We now face the risk of losing two more hospitals due to the fighting. The cumulative impact of the conflict on the health system is devastating and urgent measures must be taken to prevent this from happening,” according to Wafa Agency.

International humanitarian law stipulates that all parties to the conflict must fully respect and provide absolute protection to medical infrastructure.

She stressed that the humanitarian imperative to protect health facilities in Gaza is clear and unambiguous. Given the size of the population, the current dire living conditions, the collapsed health system, and the intensity of the fighting, if these medical facilities stop working, especially the Nasser Medical Complex and the Gaza European Hospital, the world will witness the loss of thousands of lives that might have been saved.

She stressed the need to take immediate steps to ensure the protection of hospitals and the civilians inside them, to ensure that health care workers, the wounded, the sick, and ambulances reach hospitals safely, and to facilitate the timely supply of hospitals with the necessary materials, such as medicines, fuel, food, and water, to keep them operating.

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