The United Nations Organization for the Coordination of Disaster Relief (OCHA) reported that ambulance vehicles and relief centers in Lebanon have been targeted or attacked, resulting in several casualties.
Nevertheless, the United Nations Health Organization – WHO and its health partners are active in providing life-saving treatment to frontline health workers.
OCHA emphasized that international humanitarian law provides special protection to ambulance vehicles, health care workers and their patients and that they cannot be targeted.
Meanwhile, Lebanese officials said five health workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern part of the country.
According to the WHO, there have been 38 attacks on healthcare facilities in Lebanon over the past year, killing 92 and injuring 92.
The hospital had to be evacuated
About 100 health services in southern Lebanon have been closed due to Israeli bombing and ground military action.
The WHO said five hospitals were no longer functioning and four were in densely populated conflict areas, where medical staff and some critically ill patients had to be evacuated to already overcrowded hospitals.
“Ensuring the protection of the general public and health workers is a legal and ethical imperative,” said WHO Regional Director Hanan Balkhi. “Attacks on healthcare facilities cannot become a permanent symbol of war in the region.”
Jabalia bakery has been burnt down
Meanwhile, Dr. Balkhi Hanan expressed deep concern over the dire humanitarian situation in northern Gaza, where the Israeli army has intensified military offensives and issued evacuation orders in recent days.
The United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, announced on Wednesday that several schools converted into shelters in northern Gaza will be closed as the siege of the Jabalia refugee camp enters its sixth day.
The agency reported that only two of the eight water wells in the Jabalia refugee camp were operational. However, the UN Food Aid Agency – WFP has warned that there is a severe shortage of bread and other food items in northern Gaza as the only bakery supported by WFP in the Jabalia refugee camp was destroyed by explosives.
There is no choice but to go south
Dr. Balkhi Hanan said there are currently estimated to be around 400,000 people in northern Gaza, where hospitals are overcrowded and at risk of collapse.
According to OCHA, border posts inside Gaza are only allowing civilian access to the southern part, while allowing limited humanitarian access to northern Gaza.