An alert from Gaza’s main hospital in the south of the enclave
that lifesaving operations would stop on Wednesday evening
because of fuel shortages followed an appeal from UN chief
António Guterres for an
immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
A truce was needed, he told the Security Council on Tuesday,
“to ease epic suffering, make the delivery of aid easier and
safer and facilitate the release of hostages”.
He said although nothing could justify the appalling attacks by
Hamas of 7 October, it was important to recognize they “did not
happen in a vacuum” and did not justify the collective punishment
of Palestinians.
Following the Secretary-General’s comments, Israel’s ambassador
to the UN Gilad Erdan announced that visas would be denied to UN
officials, arguing that Mr. Guterres's speech sought to justify
Hamas's brutal assault which left some 1,400 dead.
An Israeli visa has already been refused for UN emergency relief
chief Martin Griffiths, Mr. Erdan said in a media interview.
Israel in deep trauma
The trauma of survivors and the “collective psychological burden”
brought on by the hostage crisis in which over 220 Israelis and
foreign nationals were still being held captive in Gaza has sent
mental health needs soaring, UN health agency WHO’s Special
Representative in Israel Dr. Michel Thieren said.
When visiting a hospital in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon
which is treating many of the 4,600 people wounded in the
attacks, Dr. Thieren said that “almost every one of those
survivors had seen someone else die before they themselves were
injured”.
‘Ghost towns’ in the south
The WHO official underscored
that the mental health of doctors and nurses he met in Israel had
been strongly affected by survivors’ accounts and the wounds they
were treating.
He also visited military bases where the mutilated bodies of many
of the 1,400 victims of the Hamas attacks are stored in
refrigerated containers and spoke about the impact on the doctors
and forensic experts struggling to identify them.
“I have visited ghost towns in the south whose populations have
been evacuated. There is still the terrible stench of death. […]
The shadow of national shock and grief has plunged this country
into night. When mental health perishes, so does physical
health,” Dr Thieren said.
Fuel critically low
Meanwhile in Gaza, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which is the
largest humanitarian provider in the enclave, warned that unless
fuel is allowed in, it will be forced to halt all
operations as of Wednesday night.
Gaza has been under a full electricity blackout since 11 October
and fuel shortages have compromised essential services from
ambulances to bakeries and water facilities.
After a third humanitarian convoy made it through the Rafah
border crossing on Monday, no further aid was reportedly let into
Gaza on Tuesday.
That day also saw the highest fatality toll reported in a single
day in Gaza during this round of hostilities, the UN humanitarian
affairs coordination office (OCHA) said.
Some 704 Palestinians including 305 children were killed,
bringing the total death toll in the territory to 5,791 according
to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
Plight of women and girls
Joining its voice to the UN chief’s calls for a humanitarian
ceasefire, UN Women has highlighted the
plight of women and girls in the Gaza Strip amid the escalation.
Speaking to UN News, UN Women Deputy Executive Director Sarah
Hendriks stressed the urgent need for women and girls in Gaza to
access safe shelter, protection and maternal healthcare. She said
that according to UNFPA, the UN Population
Fund, some 50,000 women in Gaza are currently pregnant and over
5,500 are expected to give birth just in the next month.
Access to healthcare is tightening by the hour in Gaza. WHO said
on Tuesday that a third of hospitals and nearly two thirds of
primary health care clinics in the territory have shut down.
Ms. Hendriks also said that “the violence has produced close to
900 new female headed households” and highlighted the struggle of
widows to provide for their families. She warned about the
ever-present threat of gender-based violence compounded by mass
displacement and conditions in overcrowded shelters.
“We will continue to remain on the ground listening to the voices
of women and girls, hearing their perspectives and translating
those to the international community so that their needs can be
prioritized even as the solutions to the overall conflict are
being addressed,” Ms. Hendriks said.
