Keystone-SDA
“Safe and unimpeded” access to the Gaza Strip, ravaged by more than a year of war, is urgently needed to deliver humanitarian aid, the International Red Cross demanded on Wednesday. Babies are dying from the cold.
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January 8, 2025 – 2:07 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) Heavy rains and flooding have made the makeshift shelters of thousands of people in this territory uninhabitable, with up to 30 centimeters of water inside the tents, according to a statement from the International Federation of Cross Societies. Red Crescent Society (IFRC).
“Without safe access, children will freeze to death. Without safe access, families will starve. Without safe access, humanitarian workers cannot save lives,” IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain warned in the statement.
According to a UN count, 333 humanitarian workers have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the conflict, triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023.
“I urgently reiterate my call to grant safe and unhindered access to humanitarians so that they can provide vital assistance,” insisted Mr. Chapagain. Citing the United Nations, the IFRC deplores that eight babies died of cold, emphasizing “the seriousness of the humanitarian crisis”.
The displaced are living in makeshift tents and suffering from a lack of food, fuel and medicine, with the United Nations warning for months of famine in the poor and overpopulated territory.
-“Continuous attacks” on health
According to the International Red Cross, “many people” in the Gaza Strip are in makeshift camps without even the bare necessities, such as blankets.
The Palestinian Red Crescent is working to provide health services and emergency assistance to the population but “the lack of access makes it virtually impossible to provide adequate support”, explains the IFRC.
This organization, whose headquarters is in Geneva, notes that the closure in early May by Israel of the main border crossing in the Gaza Strip, that of Rafah, “had a considerable impact on the humanitarian situation” in this small Palestinian territory, where “ help is currently arriving in dribs and drabs.”
The IFRC also denounces the “continuous attacks on health establishments in the Gaza Strip” which “prevent its inhabitants from accessing the treatment they need”, also regretting that no more hospitals are operational in the north of this territory.
Restrictions also criticized by MSF
For its part, MSF (Doctors Without Borders) protested in a press release against the restrictions imposed by Israel in the West Bank, in particular in the so-called H2 zone in Hebron.
The NGO, which was forced to suspend its activities inside the area for several months, warns that access to health care is “severely compromised and that the mental and physical health of the population is in danger and is deteriorating.”
“Although we can once again provide care in the MSF clinic inside the Jaber neighborhood, access remains a challenge as our staff may be searched and delayed at checkpoints to enter the H2 zone,” explained Chloe Janssen, an MSF manager.
