Update to Current Crisis
The conflict in Gaza began on 7th October 2023. As of the evening of 28th January 2024:
- 26,422 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and 65,087 injured. Women and children, tragically, make up 70% of all those killed to date.
- Many people remain missing, presumably buried under the rubble, waiting for rescue or recovery.
- Heavy bombardments across Gaza from air, land and sea are ongoing, with intense ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups, especially in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis.
- Only 14 of 36 hospitals across Gaza are partially functional and able to admit patients. In Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, three hospitals – Al Aqsa, Nasser and European Gaza hospitals – are at risk of closure due to the issuance of evacuation orders in adjacent areas and the ongoing conduct of hostilities nearby.
- Over 80% of primary health care clinics have shut down because of damage or a lack of fuel and/or staff. This severely compromises access to health care for everyone, but particularly young children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, older persons, persons with disabilities and patients with non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
- Only four of 22 United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) health centres are still operational in southern areas of Gaza. Midwives are providing care for post-natal and high-risk pregnant women at these centres, with an estimated 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza and more than 180 giving birth every day in the most appalling conditions.
- Nearly 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes, fleeing to emergency shelters or the homes of family/friends, with many now displaced multiple times.
- A severe water shortage, consumption of contaminated water, massive overcrowding in shelters and breakdown of the vaccination programme have already resulted in a surge in communicable disease reports, with cases of diarrhoea, respiratory tract infections and hepatitis A rising rapidly. There has also been a concerning increase in the number of cases of mumps and meningitis.
- Essential food stocks are severely depleted throughout Gaza and completely exhausted in the north. On 16th January, in a joint statement, a number of UN Special Rapporteurs said that “currently every single person in Gaza is hungry, a quarter of the population are starving and struggling to find food and drinkable water, and famine is imminent.”
- On 28th January, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths stated that “the people of Gaza have been enduring unthinkable horrors and deprivation for months. Their needs have never been higher – and our humanitarian capacity to assist them has never been under such threat. We need to be at full stretch to give the people of Gaza a moment of hope.”
- Mains electricity has been unavailable since 11th October 2023, with completely inadequate fuel supplies for emergency generators, even at hospitals.
- Erez crossing remains closed by the Israeli authorities. Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings are now open more consistently, allowing a small number of internationals and critically injured patients to leave and the delivery/distribution of aid into Gaza, but still only a fraction of the fuel, food, water and medical supplies needed are getting in.
Our immediate objectives:
- To help respond to the current emergency, getting surgical teams and life-saving equipment/supplies into Gaza as soon as possible. Our first team worked at the European Gaza hospital, Khan Younis, for two weeks from 27th December 2023, and our second team entered Gaza on 23rd January 2024 and are also working at the European Gaza hospital. We have been able to support local colleagues, exhausted and fearful for their families, with the emergency surgical management of survivors of major trauma (predominantly blast and crush injuries), and the subsequent management of patients with complex limb injuries. So many of these patients have lost family members and have devastating, disabling wounds, requiring multiple operations and lifelong rehabilitation. To simultaneously complete a thorough assessment of health care needs in Gaza to guide our subsequent work.
Medium-term objectives:
- To continue support for the established adult/paediatric trauma and limb reconstruction services, to ensure resilience and robust succession planning.
- To bring standards of major trauma care at the five principal hospitals up to modern international standards.
To support our life-saving work please donate through the link above. Thank you.
