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On Friday, the World Health Organization appealed for the formation of a “humanitarian corridor” in Gaza to allow for evacuation of people wounded by the conflict in the region.
“WHO is calling for the creation of a humanitarian corridor … to reach various crossings and to help in the evacuation of the large number of injured people.There’s a daily increase in casualty figures”, Paul Garwood, a spokesman for WHO, said.
Garwood also said that representatives of the UN’s health agency were in contact with Israel and Egypt in the past few days and spoke about the possibility of creating such a corridor. He added that till Thursday, a total of 5,118 people, among them 203 elderly, 1,700 women and 1,561 children, have been wounded in the Israeli assault which started on July 8th.
“The huge strains on the facilities inside Gaza, coupled with the challenges to get replenishments to those facilities, and the increasing insecurity on a daily basis is increasing the number of people who are getting injured, and they need better medical care”, he said.
Another concern is the attacks on medics and health facilities in Gaza, with ambulances, clinics and hospitals being damaged or ruined.
“This underscores the need for health facilities, patients and staff to be protected. It’s a humanitarian right”, Garwood said.
As of Friday, the Palestinian death toll had risen to 815, and most of the deceased were civilians. On Thursday alone, nearly 100 Palestinians were killed, marking it as one of the bloodiest days of the conflict so far. Mortar rounds and rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian armed groups have killed two Israelis and a Thai national, while bloodshed in and around the Gaza strip has led to the deaths of 33 Israeli soldiers. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the conflict, and many of them have sought refuge at UN-run schools and UN shelters.
