The International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) is extremely concerned by the high numbers of civilian casualties inside the Gaza Strip, following the latest escalation in fighting between Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian
armed groups.
One third of the dead are women and children, among them nine children under the age of twelve.
Israeli towns in the vicinity of Gaza continue to be hit by
rockets fired from the Strip.
The ICRC is in regular contact with Magen David Adom in Israel, which has been helping with the treatment and evacuation of the wounded.
The
intensification of the conflict in recent weeks has exacerbated an already precarious humanitarian situation.
Gaza continues to suffer from electricity blackouts for several hours a day,
during which hospitals must switch on their generators.
The supply of fuel and fuel stocks inside Gaza for hospital generators has been uncertain for some weeks now.
Health
sector: coping under pressure
The evacuation of some critically injured patients, through the border town of Rafah into Egypt, has alleviated some of the strain on Gaza's hospitals, but the main
surgical hospitals, particularly in the north of Gaza, are still coping with large numbers of wounded.
Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, has now been able to return nine intensive care unit
beds to the Coronary Care, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Burns Units, which had been diverted away from these units in order to cope with the influx of war-wounded.
"The health structure
in Gaza was in a difficult situation before the latest fighting started," said Eileen Daly, the ICRC's health coordinator for Israel and the occupied territories.
"Non-emergency surgical
cases were being cancelled, and most hospitals were only able to operate at minimal level.
We have been able to support them through this latest crisis, but the underlying problems are
still there." The ICRC continues to monitor the hospital medical stocks and re-supplies them as needed.
Over the past week, it provided dressings, sutures, anaesthetics and painkillers,
plasma, bed linens, splints and surgical instruments to the main surgical hospitals treating the wounded.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah has been organizing the collection
of blood in the West Bank, and the ICRC is standing by to assist with its transportation into Gaza.
Protection of medical staff, vehicles and structures
International humanitarian
law stipulates that medical facilities, transports, and personnel must be respected and protected.
During the recent intensification of fighting, evacuating the wounded was difficult, and
often hazardous, for ambulance and emergency crews, who were sometimes unable to gain access to affected areas for hours at a time.
The ICRC is assisting emergency workers from the
Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in Jabaliya to move back to their station and to re-install their emergency calling system.
During the fighting, the staff had been forced to evacuate
to a safer location at nearby Al Awda hospital.
A rocket fired from Gaza also landed inside a hospital compound in the Israeli town of Ashkelon.
"The ability of medical staff to
work in safety in times of conflict, and for the wounded to receive rapid treatment - irrespective of who they are - is of paramount importance.
This is at the very heart of what the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and international humanitarian law are all about," says Eileen Daly.
Assistance for families
Families, whose homes were partially
or totally destroyed during the fighting, are currently being housed by relatives and local organisations.
The ICRC and PRCS volunteers have already distributed food parcels, mattresses and
relief items to more than 200 people.
"With the shortage of building materials inside the Gaza Strip, rebuilding their houses will be a major challenge for many of these families.
For some, it might not even be possible," says Karl Buehlmann, the ICRC's economic security delegate in Gaza.
"Since last June, the price of a bag of cement has risen exponentially as
stocks fluctuate due to the border restrictions." For further information, please contact:
Dorothea Krimitsas, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 25 90 or +41 79 251 93 18
Leila Blacking,
ICRC Jerusalem, tel: +972 2 582 88 45 or +972 52 601 91 50
Iyad Nasr, ICRC Gaza, tel: +972 8 28 28 874 or mobile +972 59 60 30 15
Yael Segev-Eytan, ICRC Tel Aviv, tel: +972 3 524 52 86
or +972 52 275 75 17
Jewish mourners attend a memorial service for eight students who were killed by a Palestinian gunmen in a shooting on Thursday, at the Merkaz Harav seminary in Jerusalem March 7, 2008. ...
