The World Health Organization (WHO) reiterated this Tuesday its call for a ceasefire and the protection of health and humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip and lists a series of serious obstacles imposed by Israel on professionals.
The WHO declares that the only viable solution is a lasting ceasefire, so that the agency and its partners “can work safely and unimpeded to reinforce a deteriorating health system”, replenish critical stocks of fuel, medicines and other essential aid, and prevent disease, hunger “and further suffering in the Gaza Strip.”
The report published this Tuesday by the WHO indicates, in particular, that health sector professionals were detained by Israeli forces during a mission to transfer critical patients and deliver materials to a hospital in northern Gaza.
“During the mission, one patient died,” says the WHO.
The organization states that on December 9, 2023, another WHO team, in collaboration with the Palestinian Red Crescent and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), with the support of the Department of Safety and Security The United Nations United States (UNDSS), completed a “high-risk” mission to Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City to deliver medical supplies.
The mission brought enough surgical and trauma material to the hospital to treat 1,500 patients, and transferred 19 critically ill patients along with 14 companions to the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza for treatment.
The WHO adds that “on the way north” of the enclave, the column of UN vehicles was inspected at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, and members of the ambulance team had to leave the vehicles to be identified.
There have been other arrests previously during humanitarian missions in Gaza.
On November 18, the report states, six people from the Ministry of Health and the Palestinian Red Crescent were detained during a WHO-led mission to transfer patients from Al-Shifa Hospital.
The organization reinforces that healthcare, including the ambulance service, is protected by international law and “must be respected and protected in all circumstances.”
“The difficulties faced by this mission illustrate the shrinking space for humanitarian actors to provide aid in Gaza, even though access is desperately needed to alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, as called for in the resolution adopted by members of the WHO Executive Board on December 10”. , highlights the report.
Source: TSF
