DOHA: The 'Rebuilding Hope: Healing, Reconstruction, and Resilience' discussion panel, held on Thursday as part of the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH 2024), discussed the health situation in Gaza and ways to overcome the challenges facing relief and medical teams in the sector.
Speakers at the panel, which was attended by Vice Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, along with a number of Their Excellencies Sheikhs, Ministers, policy-makers and health officials from Qatar and worldwide, agreed that what is being broadcast about the situation in Gaza is far less than the reality. People there live among the remains, many of whom had their limbs amputated without anesthesia, and entire families have disappeared from existence. They stressed that health sector workers are targeted and exposed to danger at all times and everywhere.
In this context, Minister of Health of the State of Palestine HE Majid Ramadan reviewed a number of difficult cases and situations that health sector workers are exposed to on a daily basis, as they carry out their work despite the lack of electricity, water, first aid equipment, and medicines, and are surrounded by shelling from all sides, as body parts are scattered around them.
The number of injured people increases day after day, and they are unable to meet their needs and provide relief to the injured and those in need, and this leaves a great impact on their psyches, he said, stressing that recovery from horrific scenes, whether for adults or children, is a difficult process and requires a long time. However, the situation in Gaza is different from any other place, as the recurrence of shelling has given the Palestinians the ability to withstand and restore cohesion and strengthen their belief in the justice of their cause and teaches them the meaning of homeland and the necessity of defending it and adhering to the land and being connected to it, he continued.
He called for the need to work to stop this war immediately and provide support to all Palestinians because the extent of the destruction is huge and the needs are tremendous. He pointed out that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) are stubbornly preventing medical teams from entering the Strip and are placing various obstacles in front of them.
For her part, UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag addressed the suffering of the people of Gaza, stressing that political officials are the ones who are obstructing the ceasefire and hindering relief and reconstruction efforts. It took a long time to adopt a resolution to ceasefire in Gaza, but it was not implemented, so relief and medical workers cannot perform their duties in the absence of political solutions, she noted.
In the same context, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa HE Naledi Pandor stressed the need for major countries to do their duty in allowing support for the sector because it is in a very dangerous situation. She noted that the situation in the sector requires a global approach that does not allow these events to continue or be repeated in other places, to establish a mechanism for negotiation and reconciliation, and to allow the victims to live and recover, which means that major countries must do more to enable them to impose peace.
In turn, Chief of Staff of UNRWA Ben Majekodunmi addressed the status of the agency, indicating that it includes more than 17,000 employees and provides all medical, educational, and food services to Gaza. UNRWA has opened its schools as shelters for thousands of people suffering from tragedies and the horrors of war, he added.
He explained that over the decades, the UN agency has gained the trust of the Palestinian people and the entire world, considering the Israeli legislation banning the work of UNRWA as a major crime as it will stop its efforts and humanitarian services that it provides to millions of Palestinians, which are a platform for all services necessary for recovery.UNRWA Chief of Staff also pointed out that the agency's 17,000 employees are part of the community, and work in Gaza in all specializations with the utmost neutrality and professionalism, and are committed to the principles of work and human rights, noting that hundreds of its employees have been subjected to bombing and killing.
On the other hand, President of Emergency NGO Rossella Miccio discussed the ongoing problems in Sudan, considering it the largest displacement operation in the modern world, due to the armed conflict that the country has been witnessing since April 2023.She pointed out that 80 percent of the health facilities in the capital, Khartoum, were out of service after being looted and robbed by the Rapid Support Forces, noting that several Sudanese health workers preferred to stay to serve their community.
