The accumulation of waste in the Gaza Strip will lead to the spread of epidemics and diseases (Reuters)
Gaza Mayor Yahya al-Sarraj said on Sunday that the scale of destruction in the Gaza Strip is very large, and the humanitarian suffering is still most intense throughout the Strip.
Al-Sarraj stressed that the municipality has not yet received a single liter of fuel, while 700,<> people in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip need services and fuel to operate wells and stations for these areas, in addition to opening streets to facilitate the movement of rescue and aid crews.
He called on international institutions to deliver foodstuffs, water, fuel and electricity to the Gaza Strip, especially in the north of the Strip.
Al-Sarraj warned of the spread of epidemics and diseases due to the accumulation of waste, as it is not possible to reach the main landfill in the Juhr al-Dik area (east of the city) to transport waste.
Adnan Abu Hasna, media adviser to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), told Al Jazeera that they need at least 120 tonnes of fuel to start operating basic facilities, adding that the situation in Gaza and the northern Gaza Strip is similar to the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria.
Sewage has flooded the streets of the Gaza Strip, which will pollute beaches and spread diseases, and intestinal and skin diseases are many times more prevalent, he said.
Aid Entry
Abu Hasna said that the mechanism for bringing in trucks at the Rafah crossing is complex and has a maximum capacity of 130 trucks per day, and the Kerem Shalom crossing must be opened to deliver fuel and relief materials, where 200 relief aid trucks must enter daily for two continuous months.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had sent 50 aid trucks loaded with food, water, relief and emergency medical supplies to Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip today.
For her part, Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lolwa Al-Khater said that the pace of aid to Gaza does not meet the needs, noting that aid arrived in the northern areas of the Gaza Strip for the first time since the start of the Israeli aggression.
Al-Khater explained to Al Jazeera from the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing that Qatar is ready to send any required quantities of aid, pointing out that there is work and talks on the political track towards trying to extend the truce.
The terms of the truce agreement stipulate the entry of 200 trucks of relief and medical supplies daily to all areas of the Gaza Strip, but the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said that the occupation did not abide by this clause of the agreement and did not allow the entry of the stipulated number of trucks to northern Gaza.
Hospital Rescue
For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip appealed to all medical and nursing staff in the Gaza and North governorates to immediately join Kamal Adwan Hospital, given the difficult circumstances that the hospital is going through due to the huge work pressure.
Kamal Adwan Hospital (northern Gaza Strip) was bombed during the Israeli aggression, destroying part of the intensive care room.
Meanwhile, Palestinian youth launched a voluntary initiative to clean the Shifa Medical Complex west of Gaza City, restart it to a minimum, and prepare the dialysis department, coinciding with the third day of the temporary truce.
Mahmoud Hammad, director general of administrative affairs at the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said young people started a voluntary initiative to clean the Shifa complex from dust and medical waste, to provide medical care to patients in Gaza at a minimum.
The hospital is severely damaged in all its facilities, but the initiative will prepare, clean and sterilize it to restart it, especially the dialysis department, Hammad said.
He explained that there are patients in Gaza who will be exposed to inevitable death if they do not undergo dialysis sessions.
Forced displacement
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Palestine (UNFPA) warned that forced displacement in the Gaza Strip threatens the lives of pregnant women, leaving them stranded and unable to access life-saving reproductive health services.
UNFPA stressed the need for pregnant women in Gaza to have access to health care services to ensure their safety and the safety of their children.
On November 24, the humanitarian truce between Israel and Hamas entered into force, and will last for 4 days, which can be extended, under the auspices of Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
The agreement included a prisoner exchange and the entry of humanitarian, relief and medical aid and fuel to all areas of the Strip, which is home to about 2.3 million Palestinians.
For 48 days until November 23, the Israeli occupation army launched a devastating war on Gaza that left 14,854 Palestinian martyrs, including 6150,4 children and more than 36,<> women, in addition to more than <>,<> wounded, according to the government media office in Gaza.
Source : Al Jazeera + Agencies