{"id":214889,"date":"2019-05-08T16:02:40","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T20:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=214889"},"modified":"2019-06-10T16:05:38","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T20:05:38","slug":"hundreds-of-wounded-gaza-protesters-risk-limb-amputation-without-immediate-help-warns-humanitarian-coordinator-un-news-item","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/hundreds-of-wounded-gaza-protesters-risk-limb-amputation-without-immediate-help-warns-humanitarian-coordinator-un-news-item\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of Wounded Gaza Protesters Risk Limb Amputation Without Immediate Help, Warns Humanitarian Coordinator \u2013 UN News Item"},"content":{"rendered":"

8 May 2019<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Millions of dollars in emergency funding is needed in Gaza to save the shattered limbs of some 1,700 people who have been seriously injured in demonstrations against Israel along the border fence, a top UN humanitarian official said on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an appeal for $20 million to help victims hurt during protests dubbed the Great March of Return \u2013 weekly rallies on Fridays by Gazans that began a year ago, leaving 29,000 people injured, many by live ammunition \u2013 Jamie McGoldrick, Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), said that more resources were urgently required.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe health structures really are in bad shape and that\u2019s why we have put this appeal out for $20 million to address the needs of those 1,700 people, but also to support the health system\u201d, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOf that 29,000, 7,000 have been shot with live ammunition and those are the ones who have been treated at facilities that are under very serious stress anyway\u201d, Mr. McGoldrick added.<\/span><\/p>\n

To date, some 120 amputations have taken place since the beginning of the demonstrations, according to the UN official, with 20 children among the amputees.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Running against the clock\u2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are running against the clock for some of these cases and osteomyelitis \u2013 bone infection \u2013 will be a crisis, and the need is to treat that, prevent that, otherwise we will have amputations,\u201d he said. \u201cThe technical abilities of doctors on the ground to carry out treatment required for the 1,700 (injured demonstrators) just doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking in Geneva following a lull in deadly violence over the weekend at the Israel-Gaza border between militant groups in Gaza \u2013 which is controlled by Hamas \u2013 and Israeli security forces, Mr. McGoldrick insisted on the need for dialogue to address the dire economic and humanitarian situation there.<\/span><\/p>\n

He confirmed that UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, was in Cairo to reinforce the fragile Gaza ceasefire deal reportedly mediated by Egypt, adding that he hoped this would allow humanitarian deliveries to resume \u201cbecause we were prevented from doing work, because of the insecurity and instability\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, average household debt in Gaza is $4,000, the UN official explained, noting that average salaries are $400 a month. The situation has been made worse by chronically high youth unemployment and the fact that the UN\u2019s $350 million humanitarian appeal for 2019 is funded at only 14 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to get any better, it\u2019s getting worse,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you look at the number of shops that have closed because of debt\u2026people are using all sorts of means, selling assets, doctors going abroad leaving the family and sending remittances back, we\u2019re hearing that the indebted nature of some of the poorest families is quite heavy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

During the recent military activity, hundreds of rockets were launched from Gaza by Palestinian militants into southern Israel, and hundreds of airstrikes and tank rounds were fired in return, causing 29 fatalities in Gaza and four in Israel, along with some 200 casualties on each side.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation is very precarious,\u201d Mr. McGoldrick said. \u201cAnd I think the need for a political solution is all the more highlighted because of how easy it is to slip into something very quickly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

8 May 2019 Millions of dollars in emergency funding is needed in Gaza to save the shattered limbs of some 1,700 people who have been seriously injured in demonstrations against Israel along the border fence, a top UN humanitarian official said on Wednesday. In an appeal for $20 million to help victims hurt during protests […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2453,2477],"document-source":[6158],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,2005,4624,5200,5033],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-214889","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-article","document-category-news-item","document-source-united-nations-department-of-political-and-peacebuilding-affairs","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-green-line","document-subject-humanitarian-relief","document-subject-protests","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/214889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/214889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=214889"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=214889"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=214889"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=214889"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=214889"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=214889"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=214889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}