Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza: Occupation’s Targeting of Medical Complex and UNRWA Headquarters

2023-11-19 15:08:22

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said on Sunday that “the occupation stormed the Shifa complex and turned it into a military barracks,” noting that there were 259 wounded people inside the complex who were unable to move.

For its part, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that the occupation’s targeting of its headquarters in the Gaza Strip was not a mistake, pointing out that the quantities of fuel that entered Gaza were a drop in the ocean.

Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra told Al Jazeera: “The occupation besieged the Al-Shifa Medical Complex for 9 days, and snipers mounted its roofs,” noting that the occupation’s request to evacuate the complex yesterday, Saturday, coincided with the presence of 5,000 displaced people and 650 wounded and sick, of whom 259 remained wounded inside the complex. They cannot move, “and their removal will be arranged later.”

Al-Qudra explained that the occupation destroyed the medical complex without providing evidence to support the frenzied campaign it launched once morest it, pointing out that the massacres were being committed in order to achieve the occupation’s dream of forcibly displacing the population of the Gaza Strip.

The spokesman appealed to UN organizations, saying, “We need rapid intervention from the United Nations to provide health care to the displaced,” stressing that the health situation requires more field hospitals.

“not wrong”

For his part, the spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees, Kazem Abu Khalaf, said that the Israeli bombing of the agency’s headquarters was not a mistake as they thought. “What is happening on the ground indicates otherwise and is not acceptable.”

Abu Khalaf called on Israel to adhere to international humanitarian law and spare civilians from the scourge of war, stressing the agency’s keenness to document everything and transfer this to the level that deals with international law.

He also stressed that UNRWA’s priority is to preserve the lives of civilians, noting that the number of displaced people in the agency’s facilities reached 914,000.

Abu Khalaf added that there is a need for a ceasefire and the establishment of a humanitarian corridor and a truce, pointing out that the agency hardly meets 30% of the needs, and that “the quantities of fuel that entered the Strip are a drop in the ocean.”

Red Crescent in Gaza: The humanitarian situation is more difficult and the local market has become completely dry of food supplies (Getty)

Sleeping on the streets

For its part, the Red Crescent in Gaza said that the number of displaced people from the northern Gaza Strip is approximately 1.5 million people, most of whom are sleeping in the streets, stressing that the communications outage complicates the crews’ mission amid fears of famine and the spread of epidemics.

The spokesman for the Red Crescent in Gaza, Muhammad Abu Musabeh, told Al Jazeera that “the amount of fuel that entered the Strip is small in light of the increasing needs,” and that “the humanitarian situation has become more difficult, and the local market has become completely dry of food supplies.”

He pointed out that providing relief to the displaced is becoming more difficult, especially with the cold weather and rain, and the crews are working continuously and are exhausted, noting that 31 premature babies were evacuated from Al-Shifa Hospital in coordination with international organizations.

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