The UN and other humanitarian agencies have been unable to deliver aid to the north for the past three days due to denials and access delays.
Qatar sent 37 tonnes of aid for Gaza to Egypt’s El Arish Airport on Wednesday as the besieged Strip faces a dire humanitarian situation under the Israeli genocide and complete siege.
The Qatari Armed Forces plane carried shelter kits and food items provided by the Qatar Fund For Development, Doha’s foreign ministry said in a statement. Since last year, Qatar has dispatched 58 flights to El Arish carrying 1,814 tonnes of aid.
“The assistance comes within the framework of the State of Qatar’s support for the brotherly Palestinian people, as well as its full support for them during the difficult humanitarian conditions they are currently experiencing,” the statement added.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has persisted for more than three months without a complete ceasefire in sight, killing 22,313 Palestinians and injuring 57,296 others, according to the latest figures by Gaza’s authorities.
At least 7,000 people are estimated to be missing, many of which are presumably dead under the rubble.
As of December 25, Qatar has evacuated five batches of wounded Palestinians from Gaza to Doha under an initiative by Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to treat 1,500 and sponsor 3,000 orphaned Palestinians.
Under the initiative, the Gulf State is supervising the transfer of the wounded in coordination with Egypt, in preparation for treatment in Doha.
Local authorities have not specified the number of evacuees or the name of the hospital where they are receiving treatment.
Worsening humanitarian catastrophe
The Israeli war has internally displaced 1.9 million out of the Strip’s 2.2 million population, all of which are under imminent risk of famine, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
OCHA said that there is only one pipeline coming from Israel that supplies about 1,100 cubic metres per hour for southern Gaza, barely enough for the entire population. Israel controls all basic resources under its ongoing occupation of Palestine.
The isolated northern part of Gaza has no access to clean water in addition to extreme fuel shortages.
Israel has impeded aid access to northern Gaza since the start of its ground invasion of the area in November, which saw the forceful evacuation of thousands of patients and displaced Palestinians from the Al-Shifa Medical Complex.
The UN and other humanitarian agencies have been unable to deliver aid to the north for the past three days due to denials and access delays, OCHA said in its flash update on Thursday.
Gazans have not been able to access the entirety of the foreign aid, which has been piling up at El Arish awaiting Israel’s greenlight to cross over into Gaza through the shared Rafah crossing.
An average 100 of trucks or less have been entering Gaza since the beginning of the hostilities, a figure that is significantly lower than the pre-war daily average of 500 trucks. The trucks awaiting entry include vital food, sanitary and medical supplies.
Gaza’s health sector has collapsed under the non-stop bombardment, Israeli raids and complete air, land and sea siege. As of Wednesday, only 13 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning, according to the World Health Organization.
Only nine hospitals are partially functioning in the south and four in the north of Gaza, all of which are facing a shortage of medical staff and surgeons.
“The nine partially functional hospitals in the south are operating at three times their capacity while facing critical shortages of basic supplies and fuel,” WHO said.
On Wednesday, Israeli occupation forces attacked the vicinity of Al Amal Hospital and Palestine Red Crescent Society building in Khan Younis, where displaced families have been sheltering.
Israeli occupation forces have kidnapped an unconfirmed number of Palestinian medics, including Al-Shifa Hospital’s director Muhammad Abu Salmiya, who was taken on November 23 and his whereabouts still remain unknown.
