No safe place to protect civilians in Gaza, a UN report

UN report: "No safe place in Gaza, no place to protect civilians"

Thursday January 08, 2009 22:13 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a press release stating that the civilians in Gaza have no place to go to, no safe place to take shelter from the Israeli shelling and that UN schools and offices are not equipped as shelters.

"There is no safe place in Gaza, there are no shelters to protect the residents, borders are sealed, this war is unique in a way that the civilians have no place to go to, no place to hide", the statement reads.

THE OCHA also said that UNRWA buildings, schools and offices have distinct marks on them and that the army has been provided with the locations of these building, yet still shelled them.

"UNRWA buildings are no shelters, cannot withstand shells", the OCHA statement added and slammed that increasing number of civilian casualties, especially children, in the ongoing Israeli offensive.

The OCHA also said that at least 101 children were killed, at least 1000 others were wounded, and hundreds of children are suffering from shock, panic attacks and psychological problems to the ongoing shelling.

The OCHA added that the need is rising for aid in Gaza and that the area requires ongoing supplies and services, especially on the medical levels. Also infrastructure in Gaza is damaged, streets are shelled, residential buildings are shelled, border areas ambulances...

OCHA also reported that the number of residents who are practically trapped in the shelled buildings is gradually increasing; they have no access to food or water and cannot leave as the Israeli tanks are advancing into their areas.

So far, 16000 Palestinians are living in 26 shelters, the UNRWA received some donations, as the Red Cross donated 2500 blankets, 500 mattresses, 150 special bags for cleansings which rises to the number of bags to 500, sufficient for ten days for the need on 9000 residents.

Before the current offensive, 80% of the Gazans depended on international aid, 60% of them depended on food aid, and right now at least 50.000 residents have no power supply.

Hospitals in Gaza are still running their electrical equipment via generators for the fifth day, the fuel supplies are running out and the fuel hospitals have will not be sufficient to run these generators for an extended period.

"Al Shifa Hospital has fuel enough to run the generators for three days, the Gaza European Hospital can run on generators for seven days, Gaza children hospital can run on generators for the coming three days, the main generator at the Al Quds Hospital which belongs to the Red crescent stopped and the hospital is now running on a small generator that can only be used to provide power to the ICU and the operations room.

The vast majority of the patients, and even the medical personnel, cannot reach the hospitals due to the ongoing Israeli shelling. At least 680.000 residents of the Central district, Khan Younis and Rafah cannot reach Al Shifa hospital and medication cannot make it to other areas of Gaza.

Wells and sewage pumps are not running due to the lack of power, people have no drinking water, no water to shower and hundreds of residents are walking in the streets carrying bottles while searching for a source of water.

The Israeli offensive is ongoing, the army shelled hospital, ambulances, medical centers, universities, schools, mosques, residential buildings and several others areas as the soldiers have the free hand and the equipment to do whatever they wish.

At least 760 Palestinians, mainly civilians, women and children, have been killed in the Israeli offensive, at least 3200 residents were wounded, 500 seriously. Ten Israeli soldiers were killed and more than 120 were wounded during their invasion into the Gaza Strip.

The OCHA office said that 101 Palestinian Children were killed and at least 1.000 were wounded, and that thousands of children are suffering from shock and panic attacks.

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In addition to providing surgical kits enough to care for 5000 persons and emergency health kits for 90 000 people for three months, WHO is coordinating the entry of medical supplies in to Gaza. The Organization is also working with the UN agencies and Red Crescent societies to boost operational capacities on the Rafah border to ensure medical evacuations of critical patients and track medical relief items and donations.

From the operational bases in Gaza, Ramallah and Jerusalem, WHO is strengthening outbreak investigation and control due to food and water-borne diseases. It is advocating that environmental health concerns, including sanitation and hygiene, among displaced populations are addressed. WHO teams are assisting medical personnel in responding to trauma and injuries, and establishing a coordination mechanism to ensure joint assessment of the health needs in Gaza.

According to UNWRA, over 13 000 people have been displaced. Support services for health care, safe water, food, basic sanitation and hygiene for the displaced either do not exist or are very limited. If hostilities do not cease, the numbers of the displaced people can be expected to rise.

For both the displaced population and the general population, there is now a serious risk of outbreaks of communicable disease, such as acute respiratory infections, measles and acute watery diarrhoea, all of which have potential for high mortality among children. Mortality among expectant mothers and newborns can be expected to rise and there will increasingly be cases of unmanaged chronic diseases and psychosocial conditions.

----- UN statement

I Am Still Alive, Testimonies from the Gaza Strip

Thursday January 08, 2009 20:44 by www.pchrgaza.ps

"I was working at the [Kamal Edwan] Hospital here in Jabalia, when the ambulances arrived with the dead and injured from Al-Fakhoura school. Most of the dead were women and children, and most of the survivors had terrible shrapnel wounds. We had to turn the maternity ward into a surgical theatre so that we could try to save more lives."

Ayman Al-Majdalawi is a nurse from Jabalia in the Northern Gaza Strip. On Tuesday January 6, he was on duty at Kamal Edwan hospital when the Israeli Occupation Terrorist Forces (IOTF) fired four artillery shells towards nearby Al-Fakhoura school.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) had just transformed the school into a temporary shelter for dozens of local families, who, like thousands of other local residents, had been driven out of their homes by the IOF's continuing military onslaught.

One of the four artillery shells struck the house of Samir Deeb, instantly killing him, his wife, three of his children, five of his brother's children and two female relatives. The other three artillery shells exploded next to Al-Fakhoura school, causing carnage in and around the crowded school.

Twenty seven civilians were killed instantly, and more than fifty injured. Women, men and children had limbs torn from their bodies by the force of the explosions. "The ambulance drivers told me the Israelis were shooting at them as they were trying to evacuate the dead and injured" says Ayman Al-Majdalawi.

"When the ambulances arrived at Kamal Edwan, there was chaos. This is a small hospital, and we were trying to save as many people as we could - but a lot of them had already lost arms or legs, and they were bleeding heavily. It was horrific." Under customary international law, it is illegal to target civilian objects, including schools, hospitals and United Nations facilities. IOTF claimed Al-Fakhoura school was targeted because Hamas militants had fired [at IOF] from the school.

However, under customary international law, an attacking force is obliged to take the necessary precautions to protect the civilian population against the dangers resulting from military operations. Given the densely-populated, residential nature of the area surrounding the school, an artillery attack in the vicinity could reasonably be expected to cause excessive civilian casualties.

As John Ging, UNRWA Director of Operations in the Gaza Strip noted "it was entirely inevitable if artillery shells landed in that area there would be a high number of casualties." John Ging also stated that his agency had provided the Israelis with exact geographical coordinates of all UN facilities in Gaza, including Al-Fakhoura school. He refuted IOF claims that Hamas gunmen had fired at them from the school.

"I can tell you categorically that there was no military activity in that school at the time of the tragedy" he said. "They were innocent people." Since the Israeli Occupation Terrorist Forces unleashed 'Operation Cast Lead' on December 27, 2008, at least 682 Palestinians have been killed inside the Gaza Strip, including at least 158 children and 41 women.

Another 2,950 adults and children have been maimed and injured, leaving Gaza hospitals at the brink of total collapse. Israeli war planes and tanks are indiscriminately bombing and shelling civilian houses and facilities across the entire Gaza Strip, whilst heavily armed IOTF troops shoot to kill on the streets. Hundreds of thousands of Gazan families are trapped inside their homes, without electricity water or adequate food, terrified of being killed, or buried alive. Meanwhile medical staff like Ayman Al-Majdalawi are risking their lives to reach, and rescue, the dead and injured.

"No-where in Gaza safe" he says. "Our ambulances are in danger, and some of the injured people have bled to death because we couldn't reach them. I try to go to other hospitals if I am needed, but it is very dangerous, and like everyone else, we are very frightened."

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