Gaza runs danger of becoming ‘forgotten crisis’, humanitarian support still critical: Singapore Red Cross
“The broader conflict in the Middle East, involving Iran, the US and Israel, has drawn a lot of attention away from other crises around the world,” said Singapore Red Cross CEO Benjamin William.
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SINGAPORE: Gaza runs the risk of becoming the “silent or forgotten crisis”, and humanitarian support is still critical to protect the lives of civilians in the enclave, said Singapore Red Cross CEO Benjamin William on Tuesday (May 5).
Despite the ceasefire, the situation in Gaza continues to have a significant negative impact on civilians with ongoing needs, he added.
The Singapore Red Cross hosted a sharing session on Tuesday on the Gaza humanitarian crisis. Palestine Red Crescent Society’s president Dr Younis Al Khatib was invited to speak at the event at Red Cross House.
Mr William said one of the challenges in the humanitarian sector is how much attention people spend on certain conflicts, before the next one comes around.
“The broader conflict in the Middle East, involving Iran, the US and Israel, has drawn a lot of attention away from other crises around the world,” he said, adding that this is because the current war is affecting other countries.
“So that automatically leads to resources being moved away from other crises.
“That is a major challenge for the humanitarian world, because the humanitarian challenges on the ground may be as bad, if not worse, than the crisis that is happening elsewhere. But unfortunately, the resources begin to dry up.”
The “eyes of the world” are no longer on the earlier crisis and it may not draw as much attention as it used to, he added.
Dr Younis said that 56 of his colleagues have died in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, alongside hundreds of Palestinian medical and health workers.
He told reporters that Palestinian hospitals and medical centres were targeted at certain times, and that most of them were not operational.
“International law has been totally disrespected and violated,” he said. “We … felt like the international community has betrayed these principles.”
Dr Younis described how civilians in Gaza struggled to get adequate food and medical supplies during the war, adding that many children went without proper schooling for two years.
When a ceasefire deal was announced last year, “we all celebrated … we wanted an end to the bloodshed”.
Dr Younis said that over the last few weeks, Gaza has been suffering from a lack of fuel.
“Hospital services are disrupted because of that, bakeries are disrupted because of that,” he said, calling fuel a “basic human necessity”.
CHALLENGES REMAIN
Mr William told CNA that despite the ceasefire announcement last year, the organisation still faces challenges delivering aid directly into Gaza, and routes supplies through the Egyptian Red Crescent Society instead.
“We will have to continue to work with the Egyptian Red Crescent and Palestinian Red Crescent.
“As long as the authorities restrict entry into Gaza by officials like Singapore Red Cross … we will not be able to 100 per cent guarantee where the supplies have gone, but we are pretty confident that most of it has gone where it's meant to go,” Mr William said.
When asked whether routing supplies through Egypt has caused delays, Mr William said the main challenge is not the transit time, but the long queues of trucks waiting to enter Gaza.
“Anyone who has been to Egypt will tell you that there are hundreds of trucks waiting to enter Gaza, but you know, you can only enter a certain number every day, even now with the ceasefire,” he added.
“I think those are actually our bigger challenges.”
Mr William said that the Singapore Red Cross has contributed S$2.7 million (US$2.1 million) in humanitarian aid for Gaza.
He also spoke about how the primary needs of civilians have changed in the last two years.
“If you ask whether food is needed, food is definitely still needed. But if you ask the people on the ground whether they need food now, it's more likely that they say they need medicines or other items.”
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