Gaza medics face ‘overwhelming disaster’ as supplies dwindle: WHO
Dr Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative in Palestine, said vital medical supplies are fast running out in Gaza’s remaining hospitals as border crossings remain shut due to Israel’s ground assault on Rafah.
“There are 60 WHO trucks standing in El Arish [in Egypt] ready to get into Gaza. So again, this plea: The Rafah crossing needs to be opened not just for medical supplies, but for all other humanitarian supplies,” Peeperkorn said.
“We have distributed an enormous amount of essential emergency medical supplies, but it’s not enough. This is such an overwhelming disaster,” he said.
“When there would be a sustained ceasefire, and there would be entry routes into Gaza which are properly managed. When there is a deconfliction mechanism which actually facilitates and supports, much more is possible,” he added.
WHO Representative in Palestine Dr Rik Peeperkorn @WHOoPt echoes condemnation of last Sunday's attack on camp in Tal al-Sultan + calls once again for a ceasefire to get lifesaving medical supplies and aid into Gaza.
Read the full @UN News story here: https://t.co/Uc7Japb3UQ pic.twitter.com/R5hLKBxpxt
— United Nations Geneva (@UNGeneva) May 29, 2024
No supplies, hospitals to treat burn victims in Gaza
Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative for Palestine, said the closure of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt means that Palestinians who suffered burns during the Israeli attack on their tent camp earlier this week are unable to access the specialist burns and trauma care and medicines that they need.
“You can only do so much in Gaza. And when it comes to really extensive burns, et cetera, there’s no place currently in Gaza where that can be treated,” he said.
According to the UN, some 75 people who were wounded in the attack are receiving treatment at the International Medical Corps (IMC) field hospital in southern Gaza, with 25 of them in very critical condition.
Peeperkorn said since the closing of the Rafah crossing in the first week of May, the WHO has only had three trucks of supplies enter the southern city – through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing between Gaza and Israel.
He insisted that the perilous lack of lifesaving aid supplies could be reversed if trucks carrying humanitarian aid were allowed back into Gaza in significant numbers by Israeli authorities.
Palestinian boy Ahmed Abu Athab, who was wounded in an Israeli attack, receives treatment at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 28
Can you even imagine, critical burns, no painkillers, no way to treat them. Likely to die of sepsis sooner or later.
Israeli quadcopter drones targeting civilians in Rafah’s ‘safe areas’
Haitham al-Hams, deputy director of ambulance and emergency services in Rafah, said Israeli quadcopters are attacking residents of Rafah city who have remained despite it now being the main focus of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
“We are receiving numerous calls for help from citizens as quadcopters are targeting displaced people in these areas where they are staying – even in the safe areas,” al-Hams told Al Jazeera.
“The difficulty for ambulances to reach those areas is great due to the targeting of the emergency teams,” he said.
“Yesterday, a car belonging to the civil defence was struck,” he added.
Human rights groups reported in February that Israeli forces were increasingly using electronic-controlled quadcopters – fitted with machine guns and missiles – for killing and injuring Palestinians.
Measuring around one meter in diameter, quadcopters were previously used by Israel for intelligence gathering and are highly manoeuvrable. As well as bombing and shooting, quadcopters can be modified to become “suicide drones”, rights groups say.
An Israeli quadcopter drone flying over Palestinian demonstrations in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in 2018
