Gaza: Reinstating medical, water and energy needs top priority – ICRC

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KUALA LUMPUR – Meeting the urgent needs of the civilians in Gaza including in medical supplies, water and energy will be the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)’s top priority in its effort to renew hope and rebuild the lives of the Palestinian population.

Suhair Zakkout, ICRC Spokesperson based in Gaza, said ICRC is cooperating with local authorities in Gaza to rebuild the basic infrastructure including in reinstating water supply and electricity.

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“We are also extending support by providing solar panel to pump water from wells in Gaza which can support some 15 surrounding farmers to irrigate their land,” she told a virtual press briefing on the latest developments in Gaza attended by the international media today.

The ICRC is also focusing on meeting the health needs of the population in Gaza Strip, by providing ambulance service for the Palestine Red Crescent Society besides stepping up human resources through ICRC colleagues in Gaza.

“We are also providing crucial mental health support for the people in Gaza who underwent 11-days of painful memories of Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip,” she said.

In an update on the death toll, the health ministry in Gaza said that 253 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children, 39 women and 17 elderly people, and 1,948 were injured, including 20 in critical condition.

On Friday, Egypt brokered a ceasefire between Israel and groups led by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip, ending 11 days of a tit-for-tat trade of fire between the two sides.

Asked on the electricity needs ini Gaza, Suhair said the people in Gaza getting only three hours of electricity a day as there is not enough fuel to generate electricity at the only power plant in Gaza.

“This has also adversely impacted the healthcare system. It is important that the fuel for the only power plant in Gaza starts to come,” she said referring to the Israeli blockade on supplies to Gaza.

Suhair said ICRC will also provide expertise and technical support to help the authorities in Gaza deal with the unexploded ordnance, through ICRC’s weapon decontamination programme in Gaza which began in 2014.

The ICRC staff being deployed under the weapon decontamination programme will support the efforts of the local authorities in preventing exposure of the civilian population to unexploded ordnance and other associated hazards.

Asked on the cost and time period needed to rebuild Gaza, Suhair said it is still too early to give an estimation and added their team is already on the ground assessing the damages together with the local authorities in Gaza.

On the COVID-19 vaccination in Gaza, she said the vaccination roll out in Gaza which started in March was halted due to the 11-day escalation where the vaccine quantity is only sufficient for some 55,000 people out of the total two million population.

“The social distancing issue and lack of vaccine in Gaza is worrying the health ministry and also the ICRC,” she said adding that some 40,000 people had been vaccinated in Gaza so far.

She also said the economic situation in Gaza is deteriorating with the income of the civilians impacted and some saddled with additional financial burden as they also have to care for fellow family members or close relatives who were displaced as a result of the escalation.

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