Gaza Hospital, Tons of Food, Medicine Set Ablaze

"Massive devastation and destruction" was reported in the area of the compound, said John Ging, who heads the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA.

Ging spoke to journalists in New York by video link from Gaza from where he has been giving daily briefings on the death and destruction.

UN warehouse on fire in Gaza January 15, 2009 (Photo courtesy UN)

Israel said it was responding to Hamas fire from the vicinity of the UNRWA headquarters. Ging stressed that there were no militants in or firing from the compound, calling for an independent investigation.

Ging said UNRWA, which aids 750,000 Palestinian refugees in Gaza, about half the population, is establishing alternative warehouses and is "up and running again."

Since the Israeli offensive began on December 27, the death toll has reached 1,115 dead, including 370 children, with 5,150 wounded, 1,745 of them children, according to Gazan health ministry figures, which UN officials call credible.

Three Israeli civilians have died, and dozens been injured, according to the United Nations.

Thousands of people in Gaza are in urgent need of medical attention which is next to impossible to deliver due to the ongoing hostilities and the massive obstacles preventing humanitarian access to the civilian population, says the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies from its headquarters in Geneva.

The IFRC describes the situation as "completely and utterly unacceptable based on every known standard of international humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles and values."

The international aid agency condemned the destruction caused to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society's Al Quds hospital and administrative buildings. The second floor of the hospital has suffered a direct hit, causing fires in the pharmacy and severe damage in many parts of the hospital.

"Five hundred people, among them 30 war-wounded patients, are now huddled on the ground floor of the PRCS hospital in fear for their lives, and choking on dust and fumes resulting from the attacks and other war damage," the aid agency says.

On Thursday, the PRCS warehouse was enveloped in fire after an Israeli attack. PRCS volunteers who rushed to the scene in an effort to put out the fire were prevented from doing so by the Israeli Defense Force, who fired at them.

Wounded in Gaza January 16, 2009 (Photo by Blue Chipmunks)

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society warehouse is in a compound that also houses a large fuel depot. The IFRC now fears that this will ignite, causing a massive loss of life and property which could be avoided.

The IFRC also notes and deplores the attacks being carried out against the United Nations compound and warehouses.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory Max Gaylard said the situation for hospitals, medical workers and the injured is alarming and deteriorating, stressing that hospitals must be protected and remain neutral areas under any circumstances.

In a statement, he said that 13 health workers had been killed and 22 injured, and 16 health facilities and 16 ambulances damaged or destroyed since the start of the Israeli military operation.

An estimated half-million Gazans are now without running water. Another 500,000 people are reported to have intermittent access to safe water.

From Jerusalem, the UN's World Food Programme has launched Operation Lifeline Gaza, a global appeal to ramp up the distribution of food to people caught in the conflict in the occupied Palestinian territories.

"We are in the business of feeding hungry people in difficult situations - in earthquake zones, droughts, or after tsunamis - but Gaza presents one of the toughest challenges we have faced because access to the hungry is so limited," said Josette Sheeran, an American who serves as executive director of the World Food Programme.

WFP workers say they have so far distributed two-month and three-month rations to more than 137,000 people from their regular caseload of 265,000 of the non-refugee population of Gaza since the latest conflict broke out on December 27.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, left meets with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority January 16, 2009 (Photo courtesy UN)

WFP estimates that due to additional needs brought on by the conflict, it is launching a one-year emergency operation to provide food assistance to a further 100,000 people, raising its caseload to 365,000, or 80 percent of the non-refugee population of the Gaza Strip.

The emergency operation will require funding of US$81 million the World Food Programme says.

"Continuing fighting and problems with access are hampering WFP’s efforts to reach its beneficiaries. There is a vital need for all crossing points into Gaza to be reopened and for an enduring ceasefire to allow WFP and its cooperating partners to scale up distributions," the agency said today.

The WFP has succeeded in delivering 3,755 metric tons of food into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing since December 27. A further 85 truckloads of a total 3,000 tons of food are ready for dispatch through Kerem Shalom.

Some of the bakers in Gaza who have solar panels on their roofs are still operational and WFP deliveries of flour to them are keeping many people alive.

"We are now delivering wheat flour to as many of the working bakeries as we can reach," said Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, WFP country director in the occupied Palestinian territories. "Bread is the main staple for the people of Gaza and right now their hopes of survival depend on it more than ever."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, right confers with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem. January 15, 2009 (Photo courtesy UN)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is the region negotiating with all parties in an effort to bring about a ceasefire. He held talks this week in Egypt and Jordan, and was in Israel Thursday. He met with Palestinian leaders and Turkish leaders today and will travel on to Lebanon, Syria and Kuwait.

The Secretary-General has conveyed his strong protest and outrage to Israel's Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Foreign Minister over the shelling of the UN warehouse, and he has demanded a full explanation of the attack.

Israeli leaders called the incident "a grave mistake" and apologized for the incident, UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told an emergency session of the UN General Assembly on Thursday.

Ging said, "I myself would never have predicted what has happened in full view of the whole world over these past 21 days and nights, but it has happened and continues right now, but I am hopeful, not least because of the efforts of our Secretary-General, which is there for all to see, and I wish others would join him in the degree of commitment and pro-activity that he is bringing to bear."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.