Trucks with relief supplies continued to enter Gaza through the
Rafah crossing from Egypt on Friday after the entry into force of
a four-day pause in fighting, UN humanitarians said.
They reiterated calls for access to all parts of the
war-shattered enclave where the death toll inched towards 15,000
and many displaced people were sleeping in the streets.
UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) spokesperson Jens
Laerke told reporters in Geneva that the hope regarding the
agreement between Israel and Hamas announced earlier this week is
“that the pause is respected, that it enables us to reach the
people who need us and that it will be extended into an
actual humanitarian ceasefire in the long run”.
Besides the 96-hour humanitarian pause in fighting, the
agreement, which was facilitated by Egypt, Qatar and the United
States, stipulates the release of hostages taken during the Hamas
terror attack on Israel on 7 October as well as of Palestinian
detainees from Israeli prisons.
“We hope the agreement… will bring respite to the people of Gaza
and Israel and some relief to the hostages and detainees who will
be released, and to their families,” Mr. Laerke said.
Reaching people ‘wherever they are’
The OCHA spokesperson underscored the “volatile, intense
situation” unfolding in the first hours of the truce, stressing
that “the pipeline is quite long for relief and parts of it – a
lot of it in fact – is beyond our control and has to do with
verification of the consignments”.
Speaking of the urgency to reach people in need “wherever they
are”, he highlighted the pressing need for access to
northern Gaza “where the damage and humanitarian needs
are the greatest” and which has long been cut off from the south
of the enclave and from aid by Israeli military operations.
More hospital evacuations planned
Joining his voice to hopes for the pause to extend into a
sustained ceasefire, UN health agency (WHO) spokesperson
Christian Lindmeier highlighted the plight of patients and health
workers trapped in north Gaza’s hospitals and said that planning
and efforts towards further evacuations, notably
from the Indonesia and Al-Ahli hospitals, are under way.
On Wednesday, in a joint effort between UN agencies and
humanitarian partner organisation the Palestine Red Crescent
Society (PRCS) 151 wounded and sick people, their family members
and medical workers were evacuated from Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza
City and transported in an ambulance and bus convoy to the south.
Mr. Lindmeier said that WHO is “extremely concerned
about the safety of the estimated 100 patients and health
workers” remaining at the hospital.
Out of 24 hospitals operating in the north prior to the war, 22
are either out of service or unable to admit new patients, while
of the 11 medical facilities in the south, eight are functional.
WHO said that of those, only one has the capacity to treat
critical trauma cases or perform complex surgery.
Fuel for rescue operations
In the run-up to the Friday 7 am truce start time OCHA noted an
increase in bombardments and violent clashes,
saying that Israeli strikes from air, land and sea intensified
across most of Gaza, “alongside ground battles with Palestinian
armed groups in the north, Jabalia in particular”, and that many
casualties were reported.
As the death toll in the enclave passed 14,800 as of Thursday
evening, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office quoted by
OCHA, thousands of people are estimated to be trapped under the
ruins of their houses.
As part of the humanitarian scale-up OCHA’s Jens Laerke insisted
on the need to get more fuel into the Strip to
“operate machinery to get people out of the rubble”, given
massive infrastructure damage and building collapse.
OCHA reported that 75,000 litres of fuel entered Gaza
from Egypt on Thursday, following an Israeli decision from 18
November to “allow the daily entry of small amounts of fuel for
essential humanitarian operations”. The UN Office said last
week that some 200,000 litres of fuel per day were
needed.
Mr. Laerke stressed that the fuel that goes into Gaza is
“in UN custody at all times” and is being distributed by
the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
‘Bare minimum’
Over 1.7 million people in Gaza are estimated to be internally
displaced and about one million of them are staying in more than
150 UNRWA shelters across the Strip.
Shelters in the south, where people were forced to flee by
Israeli military operations, are many times over capacity and
OCHA said that most displaced men and older boys are sleeping in
the open, in school yards or in the streets nearby.
In a statement on Thursday,
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini stressed that people in Gaza
“deserve to sleep without being anxious about whether they will
make it through the night”.
“This is the bare minimum anyone should be able to have,” he
insisted.
