A meeting was held at the UN Security Council yesterday regarding the situation in Gaza. Deputy Secretary-General Martin Griffiths, who attended the meeting, said in his statement regarding the attack: “All parties to an armed conflict must protect civilians and civilian objects and take constant care to protect them from any attack. “We have discussed this in almost every conflict, and this is no different,” he said. Griffiths said, “There was no opportunity for the evacuation of many people due to the lack of ambulances, personnel and capacity in the rest of the collapsed healthcare system in Gaza.”
“THERE WERE A LOT OF PATIENTS, INCLUDING CHILDREN AND WOMEN”
“According to the World Health Organisation, it was one of 20 hospitals in northern Gaza that were the subject of an announcement by Israeli authorities that civilians must leave for their safety,” said Martin Griffiths. “It’s a scary thought to think about it the next morning,” he said, adding that there were many patients, including children and women, in the hospital, which was at maximum capacity at the time of the attack.
Griffiths stated that displaced people also took shelter in the hospital and pointed out that these people had nowhere else to go. Regarding the hospital staff who were attacked, Griffiths said: “Dozens of healthcare workers and caregivers showed extraordinary, frankly extraordinary courage and determination to stay with their patients to do their duty, and they were in the building too.”
28 HEALTH WORKERS DIE
Griffiths emphasized that the total loss of life exceeded the loss of life in the conflicts that took place in 2014 and lasted for 7 weeks. Stating that 28 healthcare workers have died and 23 have been injured in Gaza since October 7, Griffiths reminded that the UN has humanitarian aid supplies to transfer to the region.
Coordinator Griffiths stated that more than 3 thousand people were killed and more than 12 thousand 500 were injured in Gaza and said, “There is no news from hundreds of people trapped under the rubble, and frankly, we do not know how many people migrated from north to south to escape danger.”
Source: DHA
