News and Politics | January 18, 2009 | 22 comments

Doctors Without Borders: medical team enters Gaza after being delayed ten days

source: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=3346&ref=home-sidebar-right

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JanforGore
A Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) surgical team and other personnel entered the Gaza Strip today to provide essential surgical services to people seriously wounded during the last three weeks of intense fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas.

The international team is composed of six people - a vascular surgeon, an orthopedic surgeon, an anesthetist, an operating room nurse, a logistician, and a field coordinator.

The team was forced to wait in Jerusalem for ten days until it was authorized by the Israeli government and had security guarantees by the Israeli Army to enter the Erez crossing point in the north of the Gaza Strip, a very dangerous and exposed zone. Other crossing points into Gaza from Israel were not made available to MSF. The team entered with a convoy from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and proceeded to Gaza City, where MSF operates a post-operative clinic and provides medical supplies to hospitals.

A cargo freight of 21 tons of medical materials flown by MSF on January 15 from Europe and bound for Gaza was still sitting at Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv on Saturday, awaiting customs clearance. Among the items are drugs, antibiotics, anesthetics, wound dressings, surgical materials, and two inflatable medical tents that will house operating rooms and a ten-bed intensive care unit for the MSF surgical team to work in.

Additional Medical Teams to Arrive

As of mid-day today, an additional team of three people, composed of a surgeon, an anesthetist, and a field coordinator, were en route from Cairo, Egypt to Rafah, a town on the southern border with Gaza. Upon entry into the Gaza Strip, they will move north to Gaza City. However, Egypt is requiring written approval for all foreign nationals by their governments to go inside Gaza, a bureaucratic measure creating entry delays.

A third MSF team of four people-a surgeon, an emergency nurse, a logistician, and an emergency coordinator-will arrive in Rafah on Monday. They will try enter Gaza, and, depending on security conditions, will assess the needs in the south.

Adapting Activities inside Gaza Amid Extreme Danger

Because many wounded and sick people are trapped in their homes, MSF's Palestinian medical staff have been risking their own lives by visiting patients at home to carry out consultations and to provide as much treatment as possible. As of the 14th of January, 317 people were treated by this adaptive approach, among them 92 people under 15 years-of-age and 56 women.

Relative calm in Gaza yesterday allowed for increased activity at the MSF post-operative clinic in Gaza City. The MSF clinics in Beit Lahia in the north of Gaza and in Khan Younis in the south remain closed due to the violence and extreme insecurity.
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    News and Politics,   Gaza
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22 comments // Doctors Without Borders: medical team enters Gaza after being delayed ten days

  • abbym0308
  • WorldPeaceTV
    • 0
      WorldPeaceTV  

    • We will now see the full extent of Israels inhumane carnage and restrictions on allowing medical personnel into the area. That alone is a war crime in my opinion that goes along with the war crimes Israel has racked up. Tho Hamas' indiscriminate rockets into Israel are in itself war crimes, NOTHING compares to Israels war crimes. I pray for the sick and injured and for the safety of all people. I'd like to comment on the lack of compassion from certain people on this website that mirrors Israels. Us humans must stick together to not let any government do what Israel has done. My hats off to Doctors Without Boarders who are the brave people with compassion for ALL humanity and NO political agenda.

    • 3 years ago
  • derek901
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • These are the stories from the medical personnel on the ground who have no political predispositions.These are the stories we need to see in order to accurately assess the current humanitarian situation in Gaza. BOTH Hamas and the Israeli government must honor their "ceasefire" and allow medical aid to reach those who need it most.There is now no excuse for holding it back.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • UNICEF Aid For Gaza Arriving, Despite Challenges

      Article Date: 18 Jan 2009 - 1:00 PST

      The humanitarian operation in Gaza has been dealt a blow by the strike today that devastated warehouses in the United Nations compound and destroyed essential emergency goods and products.

      Six airplanes with additional UNICEF medical kits and water supplies have now arrived in the area and are being moved into Gaza. Emergency health provisions, obstetric surgical kits with drugs, as well as high energy biscuits and therapeutic food for children are in the supply pipeline and will be delivered as soon as conditions permit.

      Humanitarian access to the affected population is imperative if aid workers are to deliver life-saving supplies, medical care, and advice and support to children and families affected by the violence.

      UNICEF is also concerned about the risk of epidemic outbreaks in Gaza due to the lack of safe water and sanitation. Children, especially those under five, are vulnerable to the spread of water-related diseases, such as diarrhea and cholera.

      Over recent days, UNICEF has worked with its partners to distribute more than 66,000 bottles of water, and emergency water and sanitation supplies for some 30,000 people.

      According to reports, 500,000 Gazans have no access to safe running water as a result of damaged water and sewage systems. An additional 500,000 people only have intermittent access to safe water. Sewage is flowing on the streets and uncollected rubbish is piling up due to the insecurity.

      UNICEF also continues to provide essential nutritional supplements of vitamin A and D and iron folate, sufficient to meet the needs of 45,000 infants and children under five, to Ministry of Health and UN clinics. UNICEF is also supporting two therapeutic feeding centres for malnourished children in Gaza.

      While the start of school has been postponed to February UNICEF is now preparing to furnish schools with replacement materials following the significant damage to school infrastructure and equipment that has occurred as result of the conflict.

      About UNICEF

      UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • To keep this on topic. Ceasefires still leave humanitarian crises in their wake.

      CNN: Mercy Corps: Gaza Relief Operation On The Brink.

      Cassandra Nelson is a humanitarian aid worker with Mercy Corps. She spends most of her time deployed in hotspots and hostile areas. She has worked in Iraq, Darfur, Lebanon, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Liberia, North Korea, Sri Lanka, Banda Aceh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Here, in a second installment of her diary, she describes her experiences trying to provide relief in Gaza.

      ASHKELON, Israel (CNN) -- Thursday, January 15

      It is noon and things have really started to deteriorate. I just found out about our staff in Gaza and events that are unfolding now:

      We just heard from our head of office in Gaza City, and she told us that Hazar, one of our field coordinators, and her family are stuck in their apartment in Gaza City.

      They are surrounded by Israeli tanks and there is plenty of shooting going on in their area. They are seeking cover in their corridor from the bullets; the shelling of nearby targets blew out the windows in their apartment.

      They are anxiously waiting for the cease-fire to take effect that was announced for today from 11 a.m. to 15 a.m. to seek refuge elsewhere. It is noon now and the shooting has not stopped yet.

      Meanwhile the home in Gaza City of the driver who has been transporting our food items from Kerem Shalom checkpoint and delivers them to our warehouse in Khan Yunis was completely destroyed last night and he spent the night in his truck in Rafah.

      We are tracking the status of the three trucks we have coming from Rafah filled with medical supplies to be delivered to the Red Crescent hospital in Khan Yunis as soon they have crossed over but we will need to evaluate the situation carefully.

      Also, an UNRWA compound in Gaza city appears to have been hit. UNRWA have suspended their operations for today.

      I am in Ashkelon on the border and can hear and feel the bombardments every couple minutes. It is making the glass in my windows shake here and I cannot imagine the terror the people in Gaza are feeling now.

    • 3 years ago
  • kuffar
  • Vierotchka
  • akamaial
  • Vierotchka
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • I'm tired of the tit for tat here by the same people who jump on ANYTHING posted here regarding this to post their "talking points." It is already known about the "helpuswin" website that was set up to recruit people to go to certain websites to post talking points about Israel and to instantly jump on anyone who dares to bring another point of view into this. I saw the ad in a Jewish community paper in my neighborhood with my own eyes. I am then positive there are people assigned to Current to do just that, and frankly, whether it be from the Israeli or Palestinian side at this point I am tired of being part of the PR WAR ON THE INTERNET everytime I post about the humanitarian situation there. MY concern in this are the innocent civilians who are in dire need of medical attention and the basic necessities of life. I don't give a damn about the petty sides being taken here.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
  • akamaial
  • Vierotchka
  • akamaial
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  
    • akamaial:

      Nonsense, akamaial, and my remarks are evergreen, not deciduous at all - neither do I copy/paste my posts to spam them all over current the way the flying pig does.

      Edit - ah, so you've edited your post and changed from deciduous to dissentious. It sure took you long enough! LOL!

    • 3 years ago
  • Highr0ller
  • Vierotchka
  • WorldPeaceTV
  • Highr0ller
    • 0
      Highr0ller [removed]  
    • Image

    • "By 6am the tanks and bulldozers had reached our house," Iman recalled. "We went on the roofs and tried to show we were civilians with white flags. Everyone was carrying a white flag. We told them we are civilians. We don't have any weapons. The soldiers started to destroy the houses even if the people were in them." Describing the death of Rawhiya, Iman says they were ordered by Israeli soldiers to move to the centre of the town. As they did, Israeli troops opened fire. Rawhiya was at the front of the group, says Iman.

      Marwan Abu Raeda, 40, a paramedic working for the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, said: "At 8am we received a phone call from Khuza'a. They told us about the injured woman. I went immediately. I was 60 or 70 metres away from the injured woman when the Israeli forces started to shoot at me." As he drove into another street, he came under fire again. Twelve hours later, when Rawhiya was finally reached, she was dead.

    • 3 years ago
  • Vierotchka
  • WorldPeaceTV
  • JanforGore
  • Vierotchka
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Let's hope they have enough time to tend to those who need it. Personally, keeping the medical aid sitting in an airport and making them wait all of that time was despicable. Did they plan the ceasefire right to give the wounded time to die? Sickening.

    • 3 years ago
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