JUZOOR RESPONSE REPORT Update #5 - GAZA SITUATION
JUZOOR RESPONSE REPORT Update #5
GAZA SITUATION - January 10, 2024
Situation
Since October 7, the war-ravaged Gaza Strip has witnessed devastating Israeli bombardment from air, land, and sea. As of the date of this report, attacks have resulted in the tragic loss of more than 22,000 Palestinian lives, including more than 9,200 children and 6,600 women, and injured more than 58,000, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Up to 1.9 million people (over 85% of the population) have been displaced across the Gaza Strip, majority of whom were forcibly evacuated to the South, an area first redeemed safe but now overcrowded and under fire. UNRWA school shelters, hosting thousands of displaced individuals beyond their capacities, are reporting detrimental conditions and lack of resources, exposing more than 1.4 million people to disease and illness. Lack of food and water is dire, as it is being reported that 9 out of 10 people in Gaza are not eating everyday and that 4 out of 5 people experiencing famine in the world are currently in Gaza. The healthcare system is almost completely collapsed and medications, medical services, and equipment are extremely scarce, with only five hospitals currently partially operating across the entire Gaza Strip. Day after day, the needs of the people of Gaza grow along with their catastrophic hunger, thirst, lack of shelter, and poor health, as humanitarian operations continue to face challenges due to bombings, blocked roads, scarcity of fuel, and limited communications. Tensions are also rising in the West Bank, where some 329 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, as raids, military closures, settler violence, clashes, and displacement are escalating.
Updates on Juzoor’s Response in Gaza
Expansion of Health Teams
Earlier in the war, Juzoor assembled health professionals, including doctors, nurses, and midwives, from among the displaced individuals and established health committees in shelters. These committees have been serving everyone in need, focusing on children, pregnant women, the elderly, people with NCDs, and wounded people, by offering health support and medical attention including wound and burn dressing. In response to the recent evacuations and bombings affecting many of shelters we oversee, our medical teams have had to adapt and cope with the evolving dynamics by restructuring the teams according to needs and mobilizing resources from less utilized shelters to those experiencing a high volume of injuries. The teams’ scope of work has expanded to include surgical interventions such as stitches, the removal of foreign bodies, and intravenous infusions. Delivery rooms were established in some shelters, resulting in more than 30 successful deliveries facilitated by professional midwives through December. Furthermore, team members have started migrating to nearby shelters and communities, especially those that are enclosed, to provide services to those in need.
Health Services Conducted
In December alone, more than 64,000 health services were conducted by our health teams in shelters, including more than 16,000 wound and burn dressing services and more than 14,000 treatments for diarrhea. Our health teams have been conducting a variety of health services with the minimal equipment and supplies they have, including non-communicable disease care, skin disease management and administering Ventolin through inhalation for cases of respiratory distress. Antenatal care was also offered to pregnant women, some of whom received iron and folic aid supplements and most of whom received hygiene kits. In total, our teams have conducted nearly 110,000 health services in the period between October 20 to December 31.
