2023-12-28 14:24:00
UN Security Council resolution on aid ‘has yet to have impact’ in Gaza, says WHO chief
The UN Security Council votes on a draft resolution aimed at boosting the flow of humanitarian supplies to Gaza at UN headquarters in New York on December 22. Xie E/Xinhua/Getty Images
A resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council last week calling for more aid to Gaza “has not yet had an impact,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.
This UN resolution approved this Friday calls for humanitarian pauses between Israel and Hamas, an increase in aid to Gaza and the creation of conditions that allow a sustainable end to the fighting, ending days of negotiations behind closed doors.
But it has not yet become a reality in the war-torn belt, Tedros said.
“UN Security Council members must urgently turn their recent resolution (to create pauses in hostilities and humanitarian corridors) into reality in Gaza. Actions, not words, are what the people of Gaza need today,” Tedros said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
WHO warnings: Tedros’ comments come after WHO teams carried out “high-risk” missions to deliver supplies to two hospitals in Gaza.
In the north, UN teams brought medical supplies and fuel to Al-Shifa Hospital, where 50,000 people are reported to be seeking shelter, to keep essential health services running at the hospital, the WHO said.
Teams in the south visited Al-Amal hospital, where WHO staff said it was impossible for them to enter “without stepping over patients and those seeking shelter.”
While transiting through Gaza, the teams also witnessed “tens of thousands of people fleeing heavy attacks in Khan Younis and the Middle Area, on foot, riding donkeys or in cars.”
WHO representative Rik Peeperkorn said the agency was concerned that the new movement of people would further strain medical facilities in the south.
“This forced mass movement of people will also lead to increased overpopulation, increased risk of infectious diseases and will make the delivery of humanitarian aid even more difficult,” Peeperkorn said.
Tedros echoed their concerns.
“Today I repeat my call to the international community to take urgent action to alleviate the grave danger facing the people of Gaza and which jeopardizes the ability of humanitarian workers to help people with terrible injuries, acute hunger and serious risk of diseases,” he said.
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