On 6 March, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced the names of 42 Palestinian patients scheduled to travel to Egypt through the Rafah Crossing for medical treatment. According to WHO, an estimated 8,000 patients need to be medically evacuated from Gaza, including over 6,000 trauma-related patients, and 2,000 patients with serious chronic conditions, such as cancer. Of the 36 hospitals in Gaza, 12 are partially functioning, one is minimally functioning and 23 are non-functional. Two field hospitals are fully functional and the third is minimally functioning. Only 20 of 80 primary health care facilities in Gaza are now functional. The damage to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis during the Israeli military operation in February has rendered it non-functional; the Israeli military alleged that the hospital was used by Palestinian combatants for military purposes. Of the 27 UN attempts to reach Nasser hospital in February, only 12 missions were initially coordinated by the Israeli military and, of them, only six were facilitated, reaching their destination.
The access of Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) to northern Gaza hospitals has not been possible due to the security situation, there are no EMTs in the area. In February, only six of 24 planned missions to areas north of Wadi Gaza were facilitated by the Israeli authorities. The low number of planned missions is primarily due to an operational pause, after a UN-coordinated food convoy was struck by Israeli naval fire on 5 February. On 1 March, WHO led two life-saving missions to northern Gaza, to provide essential fuel and medical supplies: on 1 March to Shifa hospital to deliver 19,000 litres of fuel and critical medical supplies; and on 3 March to Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals, providing 19,500 litres of fuel for each hospital, in addition to essential medical supplies.
read the full report: Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #135
Five months into the ongoing hostilities in Gaza, the scarcity of food, water and medical care has left many struggling to survive, particularly pregnant women and new mothers. Photo by UNRWA
