As humanitarian crisis deepens in Gaza, ICRC calls for urgent unrestricted relief

AMMAN — Amid the deepening humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) calls for unrestricted passage of humanitarian relief for Palestinians in line with the international humanitarian law.

As of October 27, a team of 10 ICRC members composed of a war surgery team and an expert in weapons contamination arrived in the war-torn enclave, alongside six ICRC trucks carrying needed medical resources and water purification supplies. 

“The arrival of new humanitarian personnel will increase the ICRC’s capacity to continue supporting hospitals and deliver life-saving trauma surgeries, assist people desperate for clean drinking water, and to contribute to any future family reunification of released hostages.” according to the ICRC.

On October 29, three additional trucks carrying medical supplies entered Gaza.

“This crucial humanitarian assistance is a small dose of relief, but it is not enough.” according to the ICRC. 

“This humanitarian catastrophe is deepening by the hour,” said Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC’s regional director for the near and Middle East, in a statement sent to The Jordan Times.

The medical supplies that reached the north and the south of the Strip include war surgery kits and large wound therapy packages, according to an ICRC statement. 

“The kits can be used to treat between 1,000 and 5,000 individuals depending on the severity of their injuries,” he added.

Ensuring civilians in Gaza are guaranteed access to safe water, the ICRC has included water purification supplies which contain chlorine tablets that can treat 50,000 litres of drinking water, the statement noted. 

“Sustained humanitarian access, and a sustained supply of humanitarian assistance, is desperately needed across Gaza,” the statement indicated.

An ICRC statement stated that since January this year, more than 360 individuals have been killed in the occupied West Bank and over 2,000 wounded, making it the deadliest year in over a decade.

Speaking with The Jordan Times, Saja Aliwi, the spokesperson for the ICRC in Jordan said that “since the start of the conflict, the ICRC sent around 12 trucks... We have 100 staff in Gaza”.

Regarding ICRC’s support for authorities in Gaza, it supplied in mid-Octoberthe Civil Defence in Gaza, as well as the Military Medical Services, with gloves, bandages, sterile water, oxygen masks, blankets, scissors, adhesives and other essential medical equipment, in addition to donating 280 body bags and 12 stretchers to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

“People in Gaza must not be kept waiting for desperately needed aid. Hospitals are on the verge of collapse... families are sleeping in the open, with little food and water,” she said.

She noted that aid must be delivered regularly and safely.