UNITED NATIONS, July 12 (IPS) – For nine months, more than 2 million people in the Gaza Strip have been forcibly displaced in the aftermath of the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas. The ongoing fighting and displacement has put significant strain on humanitarian organizations on the ground to meet even basic health needs.
The United Nations and other humanitarian agencies have stressed that Gaza’s health system has collapsed or is under unnecessary strain as a result of the fighting. Of the 36 hospitals in the area, 13 have remained open, with partial functionality.
This includes Nasser Hospital, which is now the last hospital to provide comprehensive health care. It is flooded with patients in the wake of the evacuation orders issued by Israeli authorities on July 1 for the east and south of Khan Younis. Patients and medical staff working at the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis were evacuated prematurely.
Although an Israeli Defense Forces official mention The fact that patients and medical staff were exempt from the evacuation order was not communicated to humanitarian organizations on the ground.
Andrea de Domenico, the head of UN-OCHA’s office in the occupied Palestinian territory, told reporters in a virtual press conference on July 3 that OCHA had not been informed. He said it was likely that those who evacuated were acting on previous experiences where hospitals had been specifically targeted by raids or military bombardments, and so they took preemptive measures to evacuate before the Israeli army entered Khan Younis.
Evacuation orders have devastating consequences for vulnerable health infrastructure by disrupting the functionality of health facilities within and adjacent to evacuation zones, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO) told IPS. They hamper access for both healthcare providers and patients, and compromise the effectiveness and safety of humanitarian operations. Moreover, they only increase the burden on other hospitals now tasked with receiving patients from evacuated areas.
As one of the remaining hospitals providing comprehensive care, Nasser Hospital has been operating above capacity with limited supplies amid surrounding devastation that WHO staff on the ground described as “indescribable.” The area around the hospital is laden with heavy layers of rubble, destroyed buildings and not a single stretch of road intact. The pediatric ward has now housed more than 120 patients since July 5, despite its 56-bed capacity.
It is also operating with dwindling medical supplies and is responsible for sterilizing equipment for surrounding field hospitals, according to Doctors Without Borders (DWB). Despite the urgent need for supplies, DWB trucks and convoys carrying these supplies have been unable to enter Gaza since April. As recently as July 3, trucks were denied entry due to ongoing fighting in the south.
“Overall, it is a wide-ranging problem, from a shortage of beds and supplies to a lack of surgeons. With yet another hospital closed, patients’ lives are at even greater risk,” said Javid Abdelmoneim, medical team leader at Nasser Hospital.
The problem of life-saving aid being restricted from entering Gaza continues and is affecting the operations of humanitarian organizations on the ground, including the UN. As the WHO spokesperson told IPS, their trucks were unable to pass through last week because the Karem Shalom crossing remains closed.
Fuel has been identified as crucial to the functioning of health facilities and relief operations, and yet there are many shortages. A WHO spokesperson said hospitals have been forced to operate with limited supplies of fuel, electricity and solar power systems, and that this has only hampered the ability of groups to function properly.
Power outages in newborn/ICU and kidney dialysis units are putting their patients at critical risk. The lack of fuel is also affecting the water and sanitation sectors, which require at least seventy thousand liters of fuel per day, yet in recent weeks they have received less than ten percent of what is needed.
In the first week of July, only 500,000 liters of fuel were brought in, and in the month of June, 2 million liters were brought in. According to humanitarian organizations, this is only a fraction of the fuel needed to sustain humanitarian, medical and WASH operations: at least 400,000 liters per day.
Accumulation of waste and sewage, and a lack of clean water, among other factors, have all led to the spread of waterborne diseases and upper respiratory infections. According to the WHO, cases of diarrhea, lice and scabies, rash, impetigo and chickenpox have been reported since mid-October 2023.
“While a healthy body can more easily fight off diseases, an exhausted and weakened body will struggle and become more susceptible,” a WHO spokesperson told IPS.
Meanwhile, acute food insecurity has ravaged Gaza. Since the beginning of the war, food insecurity has been a major concern for humanitarian actors in the region and globally.
The Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) special briefing acute food insecurity predicted that 96 percent of Gaza’s population, or 2.15 million people, would experience extreme levels of food insecurity between June 16 and September 30, which includes more than 495,000 people facing catastrophic food insecurity. More than half of households reported frequently having no food in the home, with more than 20 percent going entire days and nights without food. The violence and repeated displacement have challenged people’s ability to cope or access humanitarian assistance.
This is compounded when humanitarian workers are also forced to move for their own safety and relocate their operations. Domenico argued that the constant displacement also means that fuel and supply depots are abandoned as a result. In the case of UN agencies such as OCHA and its partners, humanitarian operations can be considered a parameter of activity that is (or should be) protected from military activity. Their presence is likely to signal to people that it may be safe to be there or that their basic needs will be met.
So far, 34 people have died from malnutrition and dehydration, the health ministry said. Of those deaths, WHO noted, 28 were children. A group of independent experts has warned that famine has spread across the Gaza Strippointing to recent cases of children dying from hunger and malnutrition, one of whom was only six months old.
“As these children continue to die from starvation despite medical treatment in central Gaza, there is no doubt that the famine has spread from northern Gaza to central and southern Gaza,” the experts said in a joint statement.
The IPC special brief notes that only an end to the armed conflict and sustained, uninterrupted humanitarian intervention can reduce the risk of famine. Humanitarian organizations have struggled to continue their activities as hostilities in the Gaza Strip have continued, leaving more than a million civilians at risk and displaced, along with humanitarian workers who have risked their lives to continue delivering what little life-saving aid can get across the border. Military violence has continued despite international condemnation and repeated calls for a ceasefire.
Organizations such as WHO and Doctors Without Borders have worked with health partners and agencies on the ground, namely UNRWA, to provide primary care, support vaccination campaigns, and deploy emergency medical teams. However, as WHO notes, these efforts can only support the health system; they cannot replace it.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service