UN: At least 280 health workers, rescuers and volunteers have died in the Tel Aviv attacks

▲ Building hit by an Israeli projectile in Chiyah, south of Beirut.Photo Ap

Sputnik, Ap and Europa Press

La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, November 23, 2024, p. 16

Beirut. More than a hundred dead were left by the day of Israeli bombings on Gaza and Lebanon, while in Syria the death toll after the attack on Palmyra rose to 92, a day after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an order of arrest against Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, Gazans have little hope that Netanyahu can be arrested. In this context, health authorities in the area warned that the hospitals that are still operating in the enclave will probably stop operating within 48 hours, or will begin to reduce their activities due to lack of fuel.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared deeply worried for the situation of 80 patients and staff at the Kamal Adwan hospital, one of the only two partially functioning in the north of the strip, attacked several times and which was hit again yesterday by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in a bombing that damaged the generator and the water tank, reported the director of the organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

I have lost my entire family, 10 people, and I am the only one leftBelal declared in a room at Al Ahli hospital. The Israeli authorities stated that they had eliminated five Hamas terrorists.

The humanitarian coordinator of the United Nations (UN) in Gaza, Muhannad Hadi, added that the delivery of food, water, fuel and medical supplies is paralyzed. The Gazan population considers that the arrest warrants issued by the ICC against Israeli leaders are an international recognition of the difficult situation in the enclave, but they do not believe that they have any impact.

Meanwhile, in Lebanon, a series of attacks against Baalbek, in the east, and Nabatiye, in the south, as well as in the southern suburbs of Beirut, left more than 60 dead in a single day and the bombings continued this morning. The attacks have left a total of 44,56 dead in Gaza, while in Beirut the toll rises to 3,645.

According to the IDF, these actions seek destroy Hezbollah weapons manufacturing and storage sites that They were placed by Hezbollah itself at the heart of civilian lifeusing Lebanese citizens as a shield.

Meanwhile, in Syria, more than 90 people have died due to Tel Aviv’s attack on the historic city of Palmyra this week, evaluated by the UN as the deadliest in many years.

At the close of this edition, at least three large explosions were reported in the capital of Lebanon after a day of Israeli bombings against the south of the city, journalists from the AFP agency reported.

More volunteers killed

On the other hand, United Nations agencies have recorded a record number of deaths among humanitarian workers in the Middle East this year.

At least 280 health workers, rescuers and volunteers in humanitarian services were killed during 2024; Of these, 230 died in Lebanon, where medical facilities and ambulances were the target of 187 Israeli attacks; 70 percent occurred in the last three months, reported Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO representative in Beirut.

In contrast, throughout 2023, 280 aid workers lost their lives in 33 countries, according to data from the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In Gaza, more than 320 humanitarian volunteers have been killed since the start of the war, most of them in the line of fireand most were members of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Humanitarian aid workers They are working bravely and selflessly in places like Gaza, Sudan, Lebanon, Ukraine and others. They show the best that humanity has to offer, and in return they are being killed in record numberssaid Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson.

In this scenario, members of the Israeli army general staff assured that Hamas is still firmly entrenched as the ruling authority in Gaza and expressed doubts that it could be overthrown, according to a publication in the Israel newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. Officials have claimed that civilian control of the Palestinian group has weakened but remains unchallenged and that the enclave’s population is unwilling to turn against Hamas.