The World Health Organization (WHO) has successfully completed a “highly complex mission” to deliver much-needed medical aid to hospitals in northern Gaza despite ongoing hostilities in the area.
According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, supplies were delivered to around 1,000 patients at Al Sahaba and Al Ahli hospitals in Gaza City. Additionally, Al Sahaba hospital also received a pallet of canned food, and a patient with complex lower extremity injuries was successfully transferred from Al Ahli to a field hospital in Rafah.
Tedros highlighted the desperate need for more medical supplies and food to care for hundreds of patients in the region and called for a sustained and safe passage of humanitarian aid. He also appealed for an immediate ceasefire to allow for the unhindered delivery of essential supplies.
The successful delivery of medical aid comes after several months of difficulty in getting help to where it is most needed in Gaza. The WHO reported that intense shelling, movement restrictions, and disrupted communications had made it almost impossible to deliver medical supplies regularly and safely. In January, medical aid teams had to cancel repeated delivery missions due to a lack of safety guarantees.
Israeli authorities had also denied 30% of humanitarian aid missions to northern Gaza in March, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The completion of this mission is a significant step towards addressing the healthcare needs of the people in Gaza, but more support and resources are required to ensure that vulnerable populations receive the necessary medical assistance.