Red Cross urges faster access for medical aid

THE International Committee of the Red Cross urged Israel yesterday to allow speedier access for ambulances to evacuate the wounded in Gaza which it said was mired in a “full-blown” humanitarian crisis.

The neutral agency also said it had unconfirmed reports that a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance station had been hit overnight in Jabaliya, site of a refugee camp.

“We are dealing with a full-blown major crisis in humanitarian terms.

“The situation of the people in Gaza is extreme and traumatic...,” Pierre Kraehenbuehl, ICRC director of operations, told a news briefing in Geneva.

“We call on the parties, in particular on Israel, to do more to allow the Palestinian Red Crescent and other medical workers to carry out their work and save lives,” he said.

The movement of ambulances and aid workers remains extremely difficult and dangerous despite a “stated willingness of Israeli authorities to facilitate the conduct of humanitarian activities,” according to the Swiss aid veteran.

Access to medical care in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip was worsening by the day, he said.

Two hospitals were about to run out of fuel for their generators, their only source of power.

“Many people in Gaza don’t get emergency medical care they need. Some are even dying because the ambulances can’t reach them in time, which is frankly appalling,” Kraehenbuehl said.

Israel and Palestinian authorities must make every effort to “keep civilians out of the firing line,” he said.

Up to 600 people have been killed in the conflict, and some 3,000 wounded, he said, although the ICRC had not separately verified the figures.