In an update from the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, where casualties have been admitted, veteran UN aid official Scott Anderson said reported witnessed “some of the most horrific” scenes he had seen in his nine months in Gaza.
“In case of a shortage of beds, hygiene equipment, sheets or scrubs, Many patients were treated on the ground without disinfectants, ventilation systems were turned off due to a lack of electricity and fuel, and the air was filled with the smell of blood” said Mr Anderson, Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator and Executive Director of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza.
Left on the hospital floor
The overloaded facility received more than 100 serious cases in one day, the UNRWA official continued.I saw toddlers who had undergone two amputations, children who were paralyzed and could not get treatment and others who had been separated from their parentsMr Anderson said, adding that parents had been moved to the “so-called humanitarian zone” of Al Mawasi, hoping their children would be safe there.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it had attacked a Hamas military commander in Al Mawasi, which lies west of the coastal town of Khan Younis. The sandy and sea-front area is now home to hundreds of thousands of people, including many who were forcibly displaced from Rafah in southern Gaza in early May, ahead of an incursion by Israeli forces.
Monday’s renewed hostilities in Rafah and central Gaza followed media reports of a new attack on a UNRWA school-turned-reception center in Nuseirat refugee camp on Sunday. Local authorities said at least 17 people were killed in the attack on the school.
Last week, two more UNRWA schools were hit, adding that 190 buildings belonging to the UN agency have been hit since the war broke out.
Tent misery
Last Wednesday, the UN Aid Coordination Office, OCHAled a multi-agency mission to two informal shelters in the Al Bureij and Al Maghazi refugee camps in Deir al Balah, central Gaza.
In Al Bureij, OCHA reported that 3,800 people were sharing 388 tents without health care or basic supplies, including water and hygiene products. In Al Maghazi, more than 1,000 people, including seven cancer patients, were crammed into a damaged UNRWA school without medical care, water or food.
“My colleagues in the humanitarian community are doing everything we can to increase medical capacity in Gaza, but obstacles to humanitarian operations prevent us from bringing people anywhere near the scale needed,” Anderson said, before reiterating the need for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all remaining Israeli hostages taken during the October 7 Hamas-led terror attacks and a “meaningful opportunity” to begin healing, stressing that civilians must be protected at all times.
No escape from delays in aid
Multiple obstacles continue to prevent sufficient aid from entering Gaza, including long delays at checkpoints and a breakdown in law and order among people desperate for food. But efforts are ongoing to provide referral services, tents, beds, stretchers, disposable items and medicines, Mr. Anderson said.
According to the UN peace agency, some 1.9 million displaced people in Gaza are living in dire conditions as the conflict escalates, with thousands of people lacking access to clean water, sanitation and food. latest reports from humanitarian organizations.
At a school in Deir al Balah where 14,000 people are sheltering, only 25 toilets are available, UNRWA noted. A persistent lack of fuel supplies in the enclave has also continued to hamper the delivery of aid and the functioning of desalination plants, hospitals and other public services. Only 25 percent of the daily fuel needed for humanitarian operations has reportedly entered Gaza so far in July, leading to a 40 percent drop in public water distribution.
And amid ongoing fears of rising malnutrition among the most vulnerable, the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) warned that people are more vulnerable to diseases due to lack of access to food, water, sanitation and basic health care.
Between July 8 and 11, 152 Palestinians were killed and 392 wounded, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH). Since October 7, at least 38,345 Palestinians have been killed and 88,295 wounded, according to local health authorities in Gaza.
