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08-11-2023 | Latest News , Middle East , Health Care in Danger

Israel and the Occupied Territories: ICRC convoy comes under fire while delivering medical supplies; surgeon says he has no more gauze for burns

The health-care system in Gaza is under severe strain. A convoy of seven vehicles from the International Committee of the Red Cross delivering medical supplies to health facilities came under fire on Tuesday, while an ICRC surgeon reports he has no more Vaseline gauze to treat patients with severe burns.

The convoy was carrying lifesaving medical supplies to health facilities, including to Al Quds hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, when it was hit. Two trucks were damaged, and a driver was lightly wounded.

“The ICRC due to serious security challenges on the road, which included one of our trucks being impacted, and one of our drivers being injured, was not able to go ahead with the plan as intended. We were however still able to delivery the majority of assistance we had with us to one of the major hospitals, Al Shifa. However, these are not conditions under which humanitarians can work and meet the urgently required needs of the civilian population,” said William Schomburg, the head of the ICRC delegation in Gaza.

Tom Potokar, ICRC’s chief surgeon who is now working in the European Gaza Hospital, said: “In the last week I’ve had to tell a father that his child has non-survivable burn injuries. We’ve had to treat young patients pulled out of the rubble after 48 hours.

Pototka added: “We are really running out of things now, dressings particularly for the burns. We are running out of anaesthetic and analgesic drugs. The staff, both ourselves and the local staff here are getting very worn out. The living conditions are very basic. There’s not much food. … But of course, it’s nothing compared to what the people here in Gaza are suffering at this moment.”

For further information, please contact:

press@icrc.org 

 SHOTLIST

Length: 02:27

Copyright: ICRC access all

On Screen Credit:

Location: Gaza

Date: 7-11-2023

00:00 – 00: 23

 

Southern Gaza - warehouse - ICRC loads trucks with medical supplies. 

 

 

00:23 –00:29

ICRC Trucks drive north to deliver supplies to hospital

 

 

00 :29- 00 :48

ICRC trucks stopped after coming under fire

 

 

00 :48- 1 :27

ICRC team accompanies six ambulances back to southern Gaza

 

 

1 :27- 2 :38

Soundbite William SCHOMBURG, ICRC Head of Gaza sub-delegation

 

For a second day in the row, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the ICRC was able to escort six ambulances out of Gaza City and to the Rafah crossing Egypt where I'm currently stood. We also entered Gaza with several trucks of vitally needed medical assistance that we planned to donate to different facilities that are in desperate need of medical items, including the Al Quds Hospital which is managed by the Palestinian Red Crescent. Our main partner the ICRC, due to serious security challenges on the road which included one of our trucks being impacted and with one of our drivers being injured was not able to go ahead with the plan as we intended. We were however still able to deliver the majority of the systems that we had with us to one of the major hospitals within Gaza City, Al Shifa. However, these are not conditions under which humanitarians can work and meet the urgently required needs of the civilian population.
Humanitarians, hospitals and civilians must be protected under international humanitarian law.

2:38- 3:00

Residents of northern Gaza are on their way to southern Gaza to escape military actions in the north

 

 

03:00 – 04:14

 

 

Soundbite - Dr. Tom Potokar - ICRC chief surgeon

 So today I just want to talk more about the reality of the situation of being here in this war zone. For the last ten days or so in the last week, I've had to tell a father that his child has nonsurvivable burn injuries. I've had to treat with the team patients, young children that have been pulled out of the rubble after 48 hours. Today we had a patient in theatre for further surgery, extensive surgery.

She's already had and had lost two children in the attack that wounded her. We're still getting patients every day. There's very significant injuries that are going to take a long time to heal. We're really running out of things now, dressings particularly for the burns. We're running out of anesthetic and analgesic drugs.

The staff, both ourselves and the local staff here, are getting very worn out. The living conditions are very basic. There's not much food, electricity, cuts in the evening, difficult and irregular communications. But of course, this is nothing compared to what the people here in Gaza are for him at this moment.

 

4:14 - 05:27

 

Various shots of the ICRC surgical team working in the European Gaza Hospital (EGH)- Gaza

 

 

 

 

Ends

For further information, please contact:

Jessica Moussan, ICRC Dubai, tel +971 504 254 091 jmoussan@icrc.org 

Imene Trabelsi, ICRC Lebanon, tel. +961 313 83 53, itrabelsi@icrc.org 

Alaa Nayel, ICRC Kuwait, tel: +965 966 73 614, anayel@icrc.org 

Crystal Wells, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79 642 80 56, cwells@icrc.org 

Fatima Sator, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79 848 4908, fsator@icrc.org 

Christoph Hanger, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79 731 04 03, changer@icrc.org 

Shuangfeng Zhang, ICRC Beijing, tel: +86 138 100 355 22, szhang@icrc.org 

Matthew Morris, ICRC London, +44 7753 809 471, mmorris@icrc.org 

Frédéric Joli, ICRC Paris, +33 6 20 49 46 30, fjoli@icrc.org 

Elizabeth Shaw, ICRC Washington, +1 202 361 1566, eshaw@icrc.org

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside i

Duration : 5m 27s
Size : 209.5 MB
On Screen Credit: ICRC or logo

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