Gaza, Part 1: 910 Killed So Far, Including 292 Children

by Michael Bear

category: Humanitarian Relief

Published January 12, 2009 @ 11:24PM PT

[January 5th Footage from inside Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza]

As the fighting in Gaza enters its seventeenth day, the death toll has climbed over 900.  According to Palestinian health officials, as of January 12th there were 912 total Palestinian casualties, including 292 children and 71 women.  Children also make up more than 35% of the wounded.

Yet an accurate estimate of those killed and wounded is almost impossible.  As a recent UN report stated: "The danger to medical staff and the difficulty of extracting the injured from collapsed buildings makes proper evacuation and estimation of casualties difficult."

For instance, on Monday the Palestinian Red Crescent Society suspended its operations in two Gaza neighborhoods (Al Zeitoun and Al Atatra) after two ambulance personnel were wounded in these areas over the past two days.  According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, only five of 135 recent attempts to access the affected areas has been successful.

As Andre Grand, the head of the Gaza sub-delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) recently explained:

"The big challenge at the moment is to have access to the victims in such an unpredictable and dangerous context. We are stuck in a position where we have to balance the safety of our staff in the field and the needs of the people; all those wounded who need to be rescued, and who need to be evacuated from the conflict areas. We cannot afford to leave those people alone, without evacuation, without help. So we are obliged to take some risks, which we try to minimize as much as we can, in order to carry out our mandate and our mission. This is the greatest difficulty we face at present."

Not only is it difficult to reach the wounded, but it's difficult to deliver assistance to those most in need.

First, the good news, such as it is.  Supplies are entering Gaza, including 129 truckloads of supplies on January 12th alone.  At the same time, UNRWA - the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees - resumed operations on January 10th, after a two-day suspension following Israeli attacks on UNRWA staff.

Yet even though Israel stopped combat activities for three hours on Monday to allow humanitarian access, this still did not provide enough time.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affiars (OCHA):

"Another key challenge faced by humanitarian organizations remains the ability to distribute food aid within the Gaza Strip. The three-hour humanitarian lulls are not long enough for the distributions, thus organizations are forced to distribute during military activity as well, putting both staff and beneficiaries at risk."

To that end, OCHA also reported that: "Food for infants and for malnourished children is not available, and fruit and vegetables are scarce because farmers have been unable to harvest due to insecurity and transport of products from the south has been constrained."

Palestinians are also finding it increasingly difficult to access health care.  According to a recent UN report: "Since the outbreak of hostilities on 27 December, the regular health system has almost ceased to function."

Two mobile clinics which usually serve 42 communities have been suspended for over two weeks, due to continuing insecurity. The World Health Organization reports that there has been a 90% reduction in visits to primary health care centers, again because of insecurity.

The situation in hospitals is little better.  The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reports that "hospital operating rooms are overflowing, and running out of essential medicines. Hospitals and other medical facilities are also understaffed and [unable] to respond to the load of injuries."