When Christopher Lockyer, Secretary-General of Doctors Without Borders, visited the Gaza Strip for five days this month, he noted the miles traveled by trucks waiting to deliver aid to the devastated enclave despite mounting international pressure to increase shipments.
On Thursday, the International Court of Justice in The Hague responded to the ongoing problems by ordering Israel to ensure the “unimpeded provision of aid” to Gaza, using some of its strongest language yet. Israel has rejected accusations that it is responsible for the delay in aid deliveries, and did so again last week.
“It's not just about the number of trucks coming across the border,” Mr. Lockyer said in an interview on Saturday. “It's about what happens after that point. It's about delivery. It's about sustainable health care. It's about clean water.”
In its ruling on Thursday, the International Court of Justice, the UN's highest court, called on Israel to increase the number of land crossings for aid and required it to ensure that its military does not violate the rights of Palestinians under the Genocide Convention, “including by preventing, by any measure, Delivering urgently needed humanitarian assistance.
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs He responded By saying that Israel has made significant efforts to mitigate the harm to civilians and facilitate the flow of aid into Gaza, “including in particular food, water, shelter equipment and medicines.”
On October 9 – two days after Hamas attacked southern Israel and the start of the Israeli war on Gaza – Israel imposed what it called a “total siege” on the region. Since then, aid has been allowed into Gaza only under restrictive measures controlled by Israel; These rules also apply to aid sent by the United Nations and groups such as Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF.
Last week, a Doctors Without Borders truck carrying medical supplies and equipment was denied entry into Gaza because it was carrying metal devices used to help stabilize broken bones, Mr. Lockyer said. “These materials, which were previously approved for entry, we brought into Gaza previously,” Mr. Lockyer said. This time, he said, “The entire truck was returned because these items were there, and we don't know why.”
A spokeswoman for the Israeli authority responsible for allowing aid to enter Gaza said that the authority was unable to find any record or information about rejecting or denying a truck belonging to Doctors Without Borders.
Israel has previously said it is preventing or restricting the entry of what it calls “dual-use” materials — items or substances that it says Hamas could use for military purposes.
Mr. Lockyer said that his five-day visit to Gaza, both in the southern city of Rafah and in Deir al-Balah in the central part of the Strip, underscored for him the crucial importance of not only ensuring that adequate aid reaches Gaza, but also ensuring that it is not enough to reach Gaza. It is distributed correctly and safely, but there is also a need to end the conflict itself.
He added that the worsening effects of the humanitarian catastrophe and the ongoing military operations became apparent during a visit to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah on March 19, the morning after the area was subjected to another violent bombing.
The wards and corridors were full of wounded people suffering from burns, shrapnel, and shattered limbs, including some who needed amputation. Meanwhile, a steady stream of weak, emaciated and malnourished children was being brought in.
“One of the most shocking things was the decision that the medical teams there had to make, in terms of: Do they give beds to trauma patients, or do they give beds to malnourished children?” He said.
On Saturday, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called for an increase in evacuations from Gaza. He wrote that stricken hospitals were struggling to care for the sick and wounded In a post on XHe added, “About 9,000 patients urgently need to be evacuated abroad to obtain life-saving health services, including cancer treatment, injuries resulting from the bombing, dialysis, and other chronic conditions.”
He urged Israel to agree to more evacuations, saying: “Every moment matters.”
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