Truce in Gaza: humanitarian needs in the Palestinian territory remain “immense”, warns the UN

Despite the increase in aid in the Palestinian territory after the entry into force on January 19 of a truce between Israel and Hamas, the humanitarian needs in Gaza remain “immense,” said the UN this Friday during ‘A press briefing in Geneva, indicating that he wanted to continue its activities the day after the rupture of links by Israel with the UN agency dedicated to Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Health needs are also “immense”, added Rik Peeperkorn, representative of WHO in the Palestinian territories, speaking from Gaza. Only 18 of the 36 hospitals in this narrow Palestinian territory are operational, but partially, and only 57 of the 142 primary health care centers are, as well as 11 campaign hospitals.

Medical Evacuation

Since the ceasefire, the WHO has been able to bring 62 aid trucks and awaits 22 others in the next two days. Hospitals now have fuel to operate electricity generators, said Rik Peeperkorn. The WHO hopes to set up a prefabricated hospital within four to five weeks in the north of the country. Before the war, hospital structures had 3,500 to 4,000 beds, against 1,500 to 1,900 currently. WHO wants to increase this capacity to 2,000-2,500 as soon as possible.

The WHO expects a fifty patients to be evacuated on Saturday. It will be the first medical evacuation from the ceasefire and the first via the Rafah crossing point to Egypt since its closure on May 6, 2024. Only 480 patients have been evacuated since that date. “If we continue at this rate, we will be busy for the next 15 years,” said Rik Peeperkorn.

PAM in support of bakeries

During the war, humanitarian organizations denounced the restrictions imposed by Israel at the entry of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Since the truce, around 600 humanitarian aid trucks have entered every day, 50 of which carrying fuel, according to the UN World Food Program (PAM).

From January 19 to Tuesday, the WFP delivered more than 10,300 tonnes of food, more than double the quantity delivered throughout the month of December and the triple of that delivered in October.

According to the WFP, there is now enough prepositioned help to feed more than a million people for three months. Speaking from Jerusalem, Antoine Renard, director of PAM for the Palestinian territories, explained that the organization wanted to help bakeries to revive their activities to lower bread prices.

UNRWA at work

UNRWA announced that it was continuing its operations in the Gaza Strip, even if it had to close its premises in Jerusalem and that Israel has broken all link with it, a year after the start of a controversy on the role Of some of its employees during the attack on Hamas on October 7, 2023, which sparked the devastating war in Gaza.

A UNRWA stops would have “catastrophic consequences,” said a spokesperson, Juliette Touma. “If UNRWA is not allowed to continue to transport and distribute supplies, the fate of this very fragile ceasefire will be threatened,” she warned. She also said that the agency’s financial situation was “very uncertain”.