HUMANITARIAN SITUATION:UN HEADQUARTERS, hospitals, and media offices were hit yesterday during Israel's air, land and sea bombardment and tank and troop advance into Gaza City.
UN workers said the headquarters of their Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), at the heart of the city, was struck by Israeli shells containing white phosphorus. The fires caused by the strike could not be quenched with water.
More than 700 people were sheltering from the firestorm at the time the Unrwa compound, which was flying UN flags, was struck, incinerating food and medical stores in the warehouse. The fire service of the International Committee of the Red Cross was able to get the fire under some control late in the afternoon said Unrwa spokesman Christopher Gunness.
Unrwa staff stayed on the job and managed to evacuate civilians in the compound to a nearby school; distributed rations to refugees; and carried on with medical services and looking after the 40,000 people in agency schools.
Unrwa’s chief of operations, Irish national John Ging said: “We need the fighting to stop. It’s now in the centre of the most densely populated place on this planet. You cannot use artillery shells and tank rounds in such an environment.” He spoke of the hundreds of thousands of terrified Palestinians who are trapped by the war in the Strip.
“Their plight is our plight,” he said. He condemned the world’s power brokers for not imposing an immediate ceasefire in line with the resolution adopted last week by the UN Security Council.
“This is happening in full view of the entire planet. This is a disaster that should not be happening . . . This is a test of our ability to enforce legality and not be just bystanders . . .”
Australian volunteer Sharon Locke, speaking on the phone from al-Quds hospital near the Unrwa compound, said that the hospital was struck several times by Israeli bombs that issued thick black smoke. “The pharmacy and the Red Crescent centre in the compound were hit and fires started.”
Six hundred people had taken refuge in the hospital. Some of those told Ms Locke that they had fled there after Israeli troops broke into their homes, took away men under the age of 40 and confiscated the identity papers of those who remained.
“People were left terrified under the shelling,” she said. At the entrance to the hospital a 12-year-old girl was shot in the face and body and her father in the leg by a sniper. Later in the day Ms Locke helped bring the civilians to an Unrwa school which could not accommodate them. Volunteers were helping some to return home. “The hospital has received 150 calls for help but cannot respond. The Islamic University is burning,” she said.
Another bomb struck a tower block housing media, three journalists were wounded.
The aid agency Care was forced to cancel distribution of food and medical supplies because Israeli bombs fell around its warehouses and centres. “This is the first day Care has been forced to totally suspend activities in Gaza,” said director Martha Meyers. She said this work was critical because it concerned the care of pregnant women, new mothers and babies. There are 40,000 pregnant women in Gaza and 170 give birth every day. Many cannot reach hospitals or clinics.
At least 800,000 Gazans are without water, more than half the population of the Strip. Worst affected are the half million residents of Gaza City. Fatalities have risen to 1,096, including at least 360 children, while the number of wounded stands at almost 5,000. Thirteen Israelis have died, 10 soldiers and three civilians.
Martin statement
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin protested strongly at the Israeli shelling of the United National Relief and Works Agency's headquarters in Gaza yesterday.
The minister said he was "appalled" at the attack. "I am also aware of some suggestions that white phosphorus may have been used in this attack. If that is so, I would strongly condemn such an act and call for this to be fully investigated by the United Nations."
The Minister noted that Unrwa had been forced to suspend their activities for a second time following the incident.
"It is of great concern that they have been forced to take this step, at a time when the Gazan population are enduring horrendous suffering."
Mr Martin stressed "the necessity for an immediate and permanent ceasefire to be instituted as soon as possible."