World Health Organization spokesperson Margaret Harris announced today, Friday, that Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip is under bombardment, noting that 20 hospitals in the area are currently out of service. When asked about the statement from the Gaza Ministry of Health regarding an airstrike by Israel on the hospital grounds, she replied, "I do not have details about Al-Shifa Hospital, but we already know it is being bombarded." When pressed for more details, she pointed out that the site is experiencing "intense violence."
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported in the same press conference that "some problems" have faced the delivery of aid to Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. The office added that only 65 trucks carrying food, medicine, hygiene supplies, and water, along with seven ambulances, crossed from Egypt to Gaza on Wednesday, indicating that none of this aid can reach Northern Gaza.
Office spokesperson Jens Laerke stated: "We cannot move north at this stage, which is extremely frustrating, of course, because we know there are a few hundred thousand people still in the north." He added, "If there is hell on earth today, its name is northern Gaza... it is a life of fear during the day and darkness at night. What do you tell your children in such a situation? It is unimaginable... that the fire they see in the sky has come to kill them?"
