Claims and counterclaims apart, civilians of Gaza are besieged and getting aid to the needy is becoming increasingly challenging and tricky.
US President Joe Biden claims he has struck a deal and aid trucks struck on the Egyptian side of the border could enter via the Rafah crossing point on Friday.
Biden told reporters on board his aircraft returning from Tel Aviv the Egyptian President Abdel Fathan al-Sisi has agreed to open the border for aid convoy to enter.
However, the nation’s foreign minister says continued Israeli air strikes targeting the Gaza side of the crossing has made it inaccessible.
Now, safe access to humanitarian aid poses a grave risk to a huge number of wounded people in Gaza, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned.
The recent violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory is at a level that the ICRC has not witnessed in many years it said in a statement.
A convoy carrying 60 tons of aid, including urgently needed medical items, from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been mobilised for Gaza, but safe humanitarian access is urgently needed to deliver them to civilians in need it stressed.
ICRC says a four-person surgical team including a chief surgeon, an orthopaedic surgeon, an anaesthetist, and a theatre nurse are on standby to support the overwhelmed hospitals in the Gaza Strip to cope with the influx of the wounded, but in the absence of safe corridor for the movement of the aid and the persons haven’t yet come forth.
Chief surgeon of the ICRC Tom Potokar says the situation is very critical and delay in deployment is challenging
“It’s critically important to deploy. We all know the situation is very bad. There are a huge number of wounded people and a lot of displaced people and ICRC has a role in helping these people in their suffering. The situation this time is much more difficult. There are far bigger numbers in terms of the people injured. The humanitarian crisis that is unfolding is on a much bigger scale.”
The brutal conflict continuing for two weeks now has left thousands dead on both sides, with an economic blockade imposed on Gaza by the Benjamin Netanyahu regime in Israel.
Thousands have lost their lives and many more are injured, missing, or displaced and the ICRC predicts conflict has the potential to spiral further out of control, causing even more suffering to civilians on both sides.
In Gaza, hospitals are on the brink of collapse, electricity is running out and people have little food or water. The level of humanitarian needs created by the violence requires sustained humanitarian relief, the global humanitarian organisation said in its release.
