Potential ‘deadly’ consequences could arise from Israel’s UNRWA ban: UNICEF
Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset, passed two bills on Monday banning the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA operates on its territory and prohibits the authorities from having any contact with it.
“UNRWA is indispensable in providing the urgent life-saving assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need,” UNICEF said in a statement.
“With children in Gaza facing one of the gravest humanitarian crises in recent history, if fully implemented, this decision will be deadly.”
Unique and important role
The statement emphasized that UNRWA is the only agency authorized by the United Nations General Assembly to provide for Palestinian refugees.
UNRWA operates a range of social services, with more than 18,000 staff in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, providing health, education and other essential services to Palestinian refugees. said. “No United Nations agency can assume this responsibility.”
UNRWA provides essential services and protection to more than 5 million Palestinian refugees across the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
UNICEF notes that it is “the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza” and that the U.N Secretary General António Guterres Have speak “There is no alternative to UNRWA”.
Commitment matters
The agency’s support for Palestinian civilians continues as the war continues in Gaza.
UNRWA said on Thursday that in Khan Younis, its teams continued to reach thousands of displaced people with flour and essential aid.
“As the risk of famine across the Gaza Strip remains high, UNRWA’s commitment to supporting the most vulnerable is more important than ever”, the agency wrote on social media platform X.
Northern Gaza: Evacuation, destruction and dwindling aid
Intense hostilities continued in northern Gaza on Thursday, especially in Jabalya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, the United Nations humanitarian affairs office said. OCHA, reported in an update.
OCHA said the third floor of Kamal Adwan Hospital was bombed, destroying medical supplies delivered just five days ago in a joint mission led by the World Health Organization (WHO), with its support.
The agency added that hospitals in the north are under attack and rescue teams are unable to work due to arrests of staff and confiscation of essential equipment, including ambulances and fire trucks. .
A total of 100,000 people were uprooted
Forced displacement continues to take place in the area. According to aid partners, about 300 Palestinians were displaced south through the Al Rashid checkpoint on Thursday.
In northern Gaza, Palestinians around the Indonesian hospital and Tal Al Arabi school in the Al Fakhoura area were relocated to Beit Lahiya.
In total, approximately 100,000 people have been displaced from North Gaza Province to Gaza City since Israel launched this latest ground operation on October 6.
OCHA said virtually no aid was allowed into North Gaza, other than limited missions, and the humanitarian crisis was worsening due to dwindling supplies, high casualties, attacks frequent entry into health care facilities and widespread displacement.
Last neonatal ICU in the north to shut down
Separately, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA warned that attacks on hospitals in the north – including Kamal Adwan, the main obstetric care provider – had closed the last functioning neonatal intensive care unit in the area.
The attacks also further limited access to maternity care for about 4,000 pregnant women in the area.
“Reports of women dying during or shortly after childbirth and of women giving birth alone without medical care are increasing,” UNFPA said in a statement.
The agency reported that only two of 20 medical service points in the north were partially operational. The same applies to two hospitals there, of which Al-Awda Hospital is inaccessible due to damaged roads and the presence of Israeli troops nearby.
‘Indiscriminate’ attacks on the healthcare industry
“The results of the attacks on the health care sector were staggering,” UNFPA said, noting that an airstrike wiped out the last remaining medical supplies inside Kamal Adwan Hospital and supplies warehouse also caught fire.
Furthermore, two children died at Al-Awda Hospital after medical equipment was damaged, cutting off their oxygen supply in the intensive care unit, according to medical staff.
A new mother was also killed when the ambulance transporting her was targeted shortly after she gave birth, although her newborn survived.
Concerns of new mothers
Furthermore, widespread food insecurity and the resulting malnutrition are adding to the suffering of people around the world. 14,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Northwho are rapidly exhausting all available means of survival.
“As the threat of famine continues, all around The agency said 1,440 pregnant and breastfeeding women will need treatment for acute malnutrition in the coming months.
UNRWA ‘irreplaceable and indispensable’
UNFPA also added that its humanitarian response depends heavily on its partnership with UNRWA, including during the 13-month war in Gaza.
“UNRWA’s established network and infrastructure play a key role in providing essential reproductive health care, including maternal health and protection services“, this agency said.
“UNFPA is deeply concerned by efforts to weaken UNRWA, as this will jeopardize access to essential care for women and girls. UNRWA is irreplaceable and indispensable and must be allowed to carry out its mandate in this conflict and beyond.”
‘The best medicine is peace’
Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, once again emphasized the need for peace in Gaza.
Writing in X, he declared that “all you get from war” is destruction, death, displacement, disease, depravity and famine.
“I hope our world will return to normal,” Tedros speak. “The best medicine is peace.”
Support for medical evacuees in Gaza
This week, the WHO Egypt and UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office signed a contract worth 1 million pounds (about 1.3 million USD) to meet the health needs of people evacuated from Gaza for treatment in this northeastern African country.
Through the partnership, WHO will support the Ministry of Health and partners to provide quality health services to these patients.
WHO will work to enhance the readiness of the Egyptian health system to receive evacuees by ensuring the availability of necessary medical equipment, medical supplies and medicines, including chemicals. treat.
The agency will also enhance the capacity of health care providers to manage chronic diseases and provide psychosocial support.
Thousands of people are still waiting
WHO does previously reported that although some 5,000 people have been evacuated for medical treatment outside Gaza since the war broke out in October 2023, more than 10,000 people are still in need of help.
Egypt began receiving patients from Gaza last November and since then, WHO has worked to support the country’s efforts to meet their health needs.
Since the crisis began, WHO in Egypt has provided more than $2 million worth of medical supplies to local hospitals, including intensive care beds, mechanical heart valves, and blood transfusions for dialysis machines, orthopedic surgery supplies and anesthetics.
With support from Japan, WHO Egypt has also trained about 900 health workers in various fields to provide life-saving emergency health care services.
