2023-10-23 16:35:58
In an exclusive interview with Sky News Arabia, the Regional Director of the World Health Organization for the Eastern Mediterranean, Ahmed Al-Mandhari, commented on the position of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip, stressing the necessity of allowing fuel shipments to enter the Strip as a priority to save thousands of lives.
On Monday, the first trucks loaded with fuel entered the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to what an official at the Rafah crossing confirmed. This is a complex process that has encountered great difficulties over the past few days, while the UNRWA Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees warned of running out of fuel in the Gaza Strip. Within three days.
Al-Mandhari said: “We stress the necessity of making fuel available, as it is most needed to maintain the ability to provide basic health services in hospitals inside Gaza.”
The Director of Global Health explained that thousands of critically ill patients face “certain death” with services halted due to power outages as a result of the severe fuel shortage.
United Nations: We are holding talks with Israel to bring fuel into Gaza
He added: “Among these are more than 1,000 patients who depend on dialysis in intensive care and need surgery, and 130 premature babies in neonatal incubators who need a constant supply of electricity to survive.”
Al-Mandhari stressed the necessity of allowing fuel to enter Gaza in order for facilities, ambulances, and all facilities and equipment that rely primarily on fuel to perform their functions and save lives.
He considered that sending supplies had already been resumed, but “on a small and completely insufficient scale.”
The Regional Director of the World Health Organization called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, adding that “a humanitarian ceasefire is needed for their safe passage.”
Gaza.. Escalation in numbers
International warning
The United Nations warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, as the fuel supplies needed to keep power generators in hospitals running have reached dangerously low levels.
Palestinian Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra also said that failure to immediately bring fuel into Gaza Strip hospitals would pose a real danger to the wounded and sick.
She added: “Gaza Strip hospitals have completely dried up their resources due to the lack of the most basic emergency treatment supplies, including fuel. We appeal to the international community and Egypt to work immediately to bring in fuel and emergency health needs before more victims are lost inside hospitals.”
Palestinian Red Crescent: Fuel must be included in aid to Gaza
On the other hand, the Israeli army confirmed that the humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip will only go to the southern areas of the Strip, which are the areas to which Israel urged Palestinian civilians to avoid the ongoing fighting with Hamas.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and an Egyptian source told Agence France-Presse that 6 trucks loaded with fuel entered the Gaza Strip to operate electricity generators in hospitals, but they are completely insufficient to keep hospitals and health centers operating for a few days.
There is an urgent need for fuel shipments to continue to flow through the Rafah crossing, and for the Israeli government to allow their passage in a sustainable manner, according to Palestinian and international assurances.
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