This report covers the period of 15/01/2009 (09:00am) till 16/01/2009 (09:00am)
For the 20th consecutive day of the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, PRCS is still at its highest level of alert in the occupied Gaza strip. The humanitarian crisis is intensifying and the number of Palestinian civilian casualties is increasing.
Yesterday, at 22:30 pm, the Israeli army bombarded, for the second time within less than 24 hours, the PRCS premises in its Al Nur medical center, in Tel Al Hawa area in Gaza city, which includes Al Quds hospital, the EMS station, the ware houses, the administrative building and other premises.
The bombs which might be phosphorous of its kind hit Al Quds hospital. As a result the fire breaks out in its upper floor. Fortunately no injuries were reported. More than 500 people were inside the hospital at that time, including sick and injured, who were evacuated to Al Shifa Hospital.
All PRCS staff and volunteers evacuated the hospital for safety reasons. The central operations room in Gaza strip which was based in the hospital stopped functioning. As a result the flow of information was seriously affected.
Moreover, yesterday morning the Israeli army bombarded the PRCS warehouses, administrative building which consists of 11
items in the warehouses were burned and the buildings were severely damaged. The civil defense could not enter the area to put out the fire due to the Israeli army's obstacles and its heavy gunfire. After several hours had elapsed the ICRC' coordination attempt succeeded to let the firemen enter the area.
PRCS remains extremely concerned over the civilians' casualties, particularly the children, who constitute 56% of the Gaza population. The civilians in Gaza lost their protection and human dignity by the current Israeli army aggression on Gaza strip and its excessive use of force which flagrantly violate the principle of proportionality.
According to MOH statistics the distribution of
casualties is the following: | Total number of Deaths | Children | Women | Elderly | Medical Personnel |
| 1133 | 346 | 91 | 108 | 13 |
| Total number of injuries |
|
|
|
|
| 5200 | 1800 | 750 | NA | 24 |
Please note that the casualties' numbers above are not final since there any unknown number of casualties in areas that the medical teams could not enter till the moment. Total number of deaths and injuries served by PRCS medical teams and ambulances:
Number of deaths and injuries transported by PRCS medical teams during the past 24 hours:The numbers are not available due to the fact that the operations room in not functioning after the Israeli army attack on PRCS Al Nur City.
A Palestinian child injured.PRCS is also concerned over the rising number of people who are seeking refuge. OCHA says that the total number of displaced people in Gaza remains unknown, because the majority of them have sought refuge in the homes of relatives and friends, including an estimated 20,000 people who reportedly left their homes in Rafah on 8 January. According to UNRWA sources, the agency received more than 38,000 people in 41 emergency shelters.
Palestinian women cook over wood-burning fire in Gaza.
The health and environmental situation in Gaza Strip is alarming. Many wounded people are dying as a result of not accessing urgent medical attention. Many dead bodies are still scattered in the streets and under the rubbles of the destroyed houses in most of the affected areas. The inability of the medical teams to evacuate the dead led to the decomposition of bodies due to the fact that the medical teams are not able to enter these areas, despite ICRC coordination.
Palestine Red Crescent Intervention:Due to the attack on the PRCS' Al Nur medical city, the operations room is not more functioning, thus the flow of information from the PRCS stations to the room and vice versa was severely affected.
Situation in Gaza hospitals: All Gaza hospitals continue to partially work on back-up generators. According to ICRC sources most of the hospitals in Gaza Strip, though, continue to run on generators 24 hours a day to keep life-saving equipment operating around the clock. Al Shifa Hospital is running low on fuel, putting patients at risk, including those who are taken care of at the intensive care units.
Gaza Strip hospitals and medical premises suffer severe shortages of medical supplies and are not equipped enough to receive mass casualties. Hospital Operating Rooms are overflowing, and running out of essential medicines. Hospitals and other medical facilities are also understaffed and not able to respond to the load of injuries. Hospitals were being overwhelmed with patients and were running out of space and supplies.
PRCS' challenges:Yesterday, PRCS Al Nur city was bombarded by the Israeli army, huge damage was reported in most of its premises, which will affect the function of the whole services, including the operations room.
PRCS evacuated the whole premises in Al Nur medical city for safety reasons.
Since 14 days, PRCS EMS station in Jabaliya has been evacuated for safety reasons.
Damage of PRCS premises
The PRCS VHF communication system is not functioning after the Israeli army hit the VHF tower in Al Nur city.
Although PRCS is doing all necessary coordination through ICRC to allow the ambulances and the medical teams access some locations, but access is still viewed to be a major bearer, which is believed to cause more deaths.
Urgent needs:
PRCS medical facilities in Gaza Strip need disposables, medicine, medical equipments, Humanitarian aid, relief items, food, water, fuel etc…for more information on the PRCS urgent needs please see the Preliminary PRCS Emergency Appeal 2009- Gaza Strip at the following link:
http://www.palestinercs.org/Reports/PRCSPreliminaryEmergencyAppeal2009GazaStrip.pdf
Donate to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in Gaza:PRCS launched Gaza emergency appeal 2009 that could be access through PRCS website www.palestinercs.org
Direct donations could be done through Palestine red crescent special account number 9090- 652753/513 - Arab Bank - Ramallah Al Balad Branch, Swift No. ARABPS 22090 - Correspondent Bank: CREDIT SUISSE
(HEAD OFFICE) - ZURICH CH - SWIFT CODE: CRESCHZZ80A
OUR USD ACC. # 0835080431314780
THROUGH: AMERICAN EXPRESS
SWIFT CODE: AEIBUS33 - ROUTING # 026001591
Or
Donate online through special account at Map Canada You can donate on line by clicking on the link http://www.mapcan.org/english.html and click on ‘’donations’’, then select the button donate now of ‘’Canadahelps’’
Select ‘’Medical aid for Palestine’’, then ‘’ Emergency Campaign for Gaza’’for the fund designation and finally write for PRCS in the note section..
HQ Location: