More than 20.000 wounded are still in the Gaza Strip, the non-governmental organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said last night, after the first transfers to Egypt of wounded and sick Palestinians, foreigners and people with dual citizenship.
"More than 20.000 wounded remain in Gaza, with limited access to medical care due to the siege" and relentless Israeli shelling, the French aid and care organization said in a press release.
MSF, clarifying that 22 members of its international staff were able to leave the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, stressed that more residents should be allowed to leave the Palestinian enclave.
"Those who wish to leave Gaza must be allowed to do so without further delay and must have the right to return," the NGO said, while again calling for an "immediate ceasefire".
According to an Egyptian official, 76 wounded Palestinians and 335 foreigners and dual nationals were able to leave the Gaza Strip yesterday, in the first civilian evacuation operation since the Israel/Hamas war broke out on October 7.
The UN and non-governmental organizations speak of a catastrophic humanitarian situation in the small Palestinian enclave of 2,4 million inhabitants.
"The scale of the tragedy is unprecedented," said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), on his first visit to the Gaza Strip since the outbreak. war.
More than 70 workers of this UN agency have been killed in the Gaza Strip, Mr. Lazzarini also emphasized.
He also criticized the fact that humanitarian aid is far from adequate in the face of the "great needs" of the residents of the Gaza Strip.
According to COGAT, an Israeli Defense Ministry body that oversees political activities in the Palestinian territories, 61 trucks with humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip yesterday.
"Medical supplies and humanitarian personnel must be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip immediately," as "hospitals are overwhelmed and the health system is facing complete collapse," MSF said.
Source: RES-EAP