Red Cross chief warns Gaza ‘hell on earth’

“We are now finding ourselves in a situation that I have to describe as hell on earth …People don’t have access to water, electricity, food, in many parts,” Mirjana Spoljaric told Reuters at the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva.

No new humanitarian supplies have entered the Palestinian enclave since Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks on March 2, as talks stalled on the next stage of a now broken truce. Israel resumed its military assault on March 18.

Spoljaric said supplies were running critically low.

“For six weeks, nothing has come in, so we will, in a couple of weeks’ time, run out of supplies that we need to keep the hospital going,” she added.

The World Health Organization said supplies of antibiotics and blood bags were dwindling fast. Twenty-two out of 36 hospitals in the enclave are only minimally functional, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn told reporters in Geneva via video link in Jerusalem.

The Red Cross president also raised concern about the safety of humanitarian operations.

“It is extremely dangerous for the population to move, but it’s especially also dangerous for us to operate,” Spoljaric stated.

In March, the bodies of 15 emergency and aid workers, including eight members of the Palestinian Red Crescent, were found buried in a mass grave in southern Gaza. The U.N. and Red Crescent accused Israeli soldiers of killing them.

Spoljaric called for an immediate ceasefire in order to release the remaining hostages held by Hamas and to address grave humanitarian issues in Gaza.

Israel began its military campaign in Gaza in October 2023 after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took some 250 hostages on a raid into Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 50,800 Palestinians have been killed and much of the territory has been reduced to rubble.