EMERGENCY in Gaza to Open Healthcare Clinic

After several months of waiting to obtain humanitarian permits, EMERGENCY has entered the Gaza Strip to provide healthcare support to a population devastated by war.During this period, EMERGENCY has been working to define the project and establish coordination with UN agencies and other partners in the area.

“The possibility of bringing aid to the Strip has to deal with great limitations in the access of humanitarian organisations, amid difficult security conditions,” explains Stefano Sozza, EMERGENCY’s Head of Mission in Gaza. “Meanwhile, humanitarian space has been continuously shrinking since November. Today, about 305 square kilometres, or almost 84% of the Gaza Strip, have been placed under evacuation orders.”

As of 12 August, Israel’s declared humanitarian area in al-Mawasi had shrunk from 58.9 square kilometres at the beginning of 2024 to around 46 square kilometres. According to last week’s OCHA update, 68 humanitarian missions were denied by the Israeli authorities in the first half of August, about a third of the missions planned at the beginning of the month[1].

“Now that we have managed to enter Gaza, we are locating a site where we can build and open a clinic to provide basic care to the population,” Sozza continues. “The health needs are enormous and cannot be managed by the local hospitals that remain operational. In addition to lacking the necessary staff and medicines, they are often overcrowded because – in the absence of other facilities – the sick and injured are turning to hospitals for needs that could usually be treated on an outpatient basis. The situation in Gaza is critical, and the population is suffering. In addition to the lack of health services, there are widespread shortages of water, food and housing.”

EMERGENCY’s clinic will provide first aid, stabilisation of medical and surgical emergencies, transfers to hospital facilities, basic medical and surgical care for adults and children, outpatient reproductive health services, and post-operative follow-up care.

At the same time, EMERGENCY will have a logistical base in Jordan to support the operational team in the Palestinian territory.

“The living conditions here are unsustainable,” Sozza concludes. “We need an immediate ceasefire, in part to allow the entry of humanitarian aid. The population of Gaza cannot continue to live in these inhuman conditions.

—

[1] OCHA, Humanitarian Situation Update #203 | Gaza Strip, https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-update-203-gaza-strip