Gaza: Gaza’s health system is at breaking point, overwhelmed time and again by scores of people killed or injured near aid distribution sites, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. “We are walking the fine grey line between operational capacity and full disaster, every day,” said Dr. Thanos Gargavanis, WHO trauma surgeon and emergency officer, speaking from the enclave.
According to United Nations, Dr. Gargavanis’ comments came amid new reports on Tuesday morning that more Palestinians had been killed trying to access food, this time near an aid distribution site in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. The shrinking humanitarian space makes every health activity significantly more difficult than the previous day, Dr. Gargavanis added.
Nasser Medical Complex, the largest referral hospital in Gaza and the only remaining main hospital in Khan Younis, is situated within the evacuation zone announced by the Israeli military on June 12. The nearby Al-Amal Hospital, operated by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), continues to provide services to patients already there but is unable to admit anyone else due to ongoing military operations. “It is what we call a completely minimal functional hospital,” Dr. Peeperkorn said.
Only 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are currently partially functional, with critically low medical supplies and no fuel entering the Strip for more than 100 days. The latest mass casualty event is just the latest involving Gazans trying to access aid amid ongoing severe restrictions placed on the amount of aid allowed into the Strip by Israel. On Monday, more than 200 patients arrived at the Red Cross Field Hospital in Al Mawasi, the highest number received by the facility in a single mass casualty incident, with 28 patients reportedly declared dead, according to WHO’s Dr. Peeperkorn.
Dr. Gargavanis insisted that recent food distribution initiatives by non-UN actors consistently result in mass casualty incidents. Since late May, the UN and humanitarian partners have been sidelined in Gaza as a new aid distribution model backed by Israel and the United States began operations under the framework of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which uses private military contractors.
The WHO trauma surgeon highlighted a constant correlation between the locations of food distribution spots and the mass casualty incidents in Rafah, Khan Younis, and along the Netzarim corridor. Asked about the type of injuries sustained by those seeking aid, and who is responsible, Dr. Garavanis stressed that WHO is not a forensic agency. “We’re not in a position to clearly identify from the nature of the injury who has caused it,” he said. “What we can say, though, is that we’re talking of gunshot wound injuries, and we’re talking of very few incidents of shrapnel injuries.”
The UN has repeatedly warned that the new aid distribution system does not meet humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence, and neutrality. The global body has also called for aid restrictions to be lifted. Dr. Peeperkorn insisted that the WHO must be facilitated to move supplies into Gaza in a cost-effective manner via all possible routes to prevent further shutdowns of medical services. He stated that 33 WHO trucks with supplies are waiting at Al Arish in Egypt to be granted passage into the enclave, with another 15 standing by in the occupied West Bank.