WHO says no security guarantees for aid deliveries to hospitals in northern Gaza

There are 'huge risks' for aid workers to deliver, making distribution to north Gaza not possible, says WHO's regional director

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - While limited aid delivery began last weekend to the blockaded Gaza Strip, there are no security guarantees for getting aid to hospitals in the northern strip, the World Health Organization warned on Tuesday.

Underlining the "huge risk" for people delivering relief, Rick Brennan, WHO regional emergencies director for the Eastern Mediterranean region, told a press briefing in Geneva, "We do not have security guarantees to deliver aid to Al-Shifa Hospital” – the region’s largest hospital – or “other hospitals in the north."

So delivering aid to that part of the Gaza Strip is currently not possible, Brennan said.

Last week Israel ordered the northern Gaza Strip evacuated, despite international aid groups saying making over a million people move south would cause a humanitarian disaster. But many tens of thousands of residents of the north, including the ill, elderly, and poor, have been unable to make the journey.

Brennan and WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic – both joining the briefing virtually from Cairo, Egypt – as well as UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai could not confirm whether another aid convoy would be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

A third convoy of 20 aid trucks entered the Rafah crossing from Egypt to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, according to a Palestinian spokesman.

The UN says the strip needs around 100 relief trucks per day to address the growing humanitarian needs there.

On Oct. 7 Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas into Israeli border towns. Israel also put the territory’s 2.3 million residents under total siege, blockading food, fuel and medical supplies.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an “immediate humanitarian cease-fire” to ease the “epic human suffering.”

Nearly 6,500 people have been killed in the conflict, including at least 5,087 Palestinians and more than 1,400 Israelis.

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