NEW YORK, (PIC)
Joyce Msuya, the UN’s acting humanitarian coordinator, confirmed that Palestinians are experiencing “unspeakable horrors” in besieged northern Gaza, highlighting the forced displacement of tens of thousands.
Msuya said on X: “Terrible news from northern Gaza, where Palestinians continue to suffer unspeakable horrors under the siege imposed by Israeli forces.” She added, “People in Jabalia are trapped under the rubble, and rescue teams are being prevented from reaching them.”
She noted the forced displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians, the depletion of essential supplies, and the bombardment of hospitals that have become overcrowded with patients, emphasizing the need for “these atrocities to stop.”
Msuya reminded that under international humanitarian law, civilians, the wounded, the sick, healthcare workers, and health facilities must be protected.
Earlier on Saturday, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported that two patients in the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza died during the siege by Israeli forces.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, said that the hospital’s generator was damaged, resulting in a power outage that led to “the death of two critically ill patients.”
He explained in a statement, “Hostilities in the vicinity of hospitals can quickly render them inoperable by affecting access to them. We call out loudly: healthcare must be protected.”
Tedros added that the WHO plans to send a mission to Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north on Sunday to deliver fuel, medical supplies, blood, and food, and to transfer critically ill patients to Shifa Hospital.
He continued, “It is essential that Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals remain operational,” urging for safe and sustainable access for patients and healthcare workers, and an immediate ceasefire.
The UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Muhannad Hadi, stated that Israeli forces have increased pressure on the Indonesian hospital and Al-Awda Hospital “to evacuate them, but patients have nowhere else to go.”
Hadi explained that since Friday, Israeli forces have not responded to the urgent request from the UN for access to northern Gaza to help rescue “dozens of wounded trapped under the rubble,” stressing that “every minute counts, and these delays threaten lives.”
For its part, Doctors Without Borders called on Israeli forces to “immediately stop their attacks on hospitals in northern Gaza.”
Anna Halford, the emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, said, “This is simply collective punishment imposed on Palestinians in Gaza, who must choose between forced displacement from the north or death. We fear this will not stop.”
She added that “Israel’s allies bear a heavy responsibility for this dire situation resulting from their steadfast support for the war.”
Since October 5, the Israeli army has been waging a war of extermination against northern Gaza, committing horrific massacres by bombing homes and shelters, demolishing and burning entire neighborhoods, and preventing the entry of food and water into the area, resulting in hundreds of martyrs and wounded, with nearly complete disruption of ambulance and civil defense operations due to being targeted by Israeli forces or being prevented from performing their duties.
With U.S. support, Israel has been conducting a genocidal war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, resulting in over 142,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded—most of them children and women—and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that has killed dozens of children and the elderly, marking one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
