The United Nations health agency has deplored the lack of access to Gaza for the delivery of essential humanitarian aid, against a backdrop of intense bombardments in the southern part of the besieged Palestinian enclave.
“Aid delivery to Gaza continues to face almost insurmountable challenges,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said at a news conference Wednesday in Geneva.
“We have the supplies, the teams and the plans in place. What we don’t have is access,” he said, stressing that the UN and its partners remained “fully prepared” to provide assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.
Israeli authorities have repeatedly refused to allow UN aid teams to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, depriving hospitals and residents of vital medical supplies.
“We call on Israel to approve requests from the WHO and its partners to provide humanitarian assistance,” Ghebreyesus said.
The Israeli Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, has repeatedly criticized the global body for failing to deliver supplies at a fast enough pace. Moshe Tetro, head of COGAT, on Wednesday denied any bottleneck on the Israeli side preventing aid from reaching the enclave.
“The problem lies with the international organizations that process and receive the aid,” he said, according to the Times of Israel.
Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, instead asserted that the UN was operating in an “increasingly restricted humanitarian space”. “There should be more routes to enter Gaza, but also to work inside Gaza,” he said, adding that humanitarian corridors were to be provided even in the absence of a ceasefire. fire.
The UN health agency said six humanitarian missions in northern Gaza – where the situation is most dire amid a total collapse of the health system – have been canceled since December 26 due to lack of necessary authorizations to proceed safely.
“If you don’t get permission, you can’t move and our requests have been repeatedly rejected,” Peeperkorn said.
Only about a third of Gaza’s hospitals are fully or partially functioning. WHO officials expressed concern on Tuesday about the possible collapse of hospital services in southern and central Gaza, as fighting intensifies and hundreds of medical staff and patients flee the medical institutions.
“The international community must not allow this to happen in the central and southern regions,” Peeperkorn said.
Three hospitals located near the evacuation zones – the European Hospital in Gaza, the Nasser Medical Complex and Al-Aqsa – provide a lifeline for around two million people.
On Wednesday, Tel Aviv Tribune correspondents reported explosions outside Al Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza. The area around the complex has been the target of intense fire in recent days.
Sean Casey, coordinator of WHO’s emergency medical teams in Gaza, warned on Tuesday that Gaza could not afford to lose more medical infrastructure.
“We cannot lose these health facilities. They absolutely must be protected. This is the last line of secondary and tertiary healthcare that Gaza has – from north to south it is dwindling, hospital by hospital,” he said.
At least 23,357 people have been killed and more than 59,410 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to Palestinian authorities. Significant damage was inflicted on critical infrastructure, including water purification systems.
Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the WHO, said the organization had detected a number of indicators – including respiratory illnesses and diarrhea – that indicate the spread of infectious diseases in Gaza.
“This is a manifestation of several diseases, but we can’t get to the bottom of it because we don’t have access to testing,” Van Kerkhove said.
“By the time we identify the disease, it will be at an advanced stage,” she added.