Humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians - 15-Apr-2002

April 15, 2002

General

• The office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (CGAT), through its regional units, is providing a response to the needs of the Palestinian health system and to other humanitarian issues resulting from the current fighting.
• CGAT is working with the IDF to coordinate humanitarian movement at the request of the Red Cross, UNRWA, various international organizations, the Palestinian Authority health system, the Red Crescent, Palestinians hospitals and others. Every day dozens of movements are coordinated in the different spheres.
• During the curfew on the towns, individual coordination is carried out with regard to humanitarian movement, teams to repair essential infrastructures and other issues.
• In accordance with the plan for lifting the curfew on the towns, a wide range of preliminary actions take place, including the opening of bakeries and pharmacies, bringing in food supplies, fuel and diesel oil etc., in order to enable the population and the hospitals to restock while the curfew is lifted.
• At the request of various entities (Israeli, Foreign and International) humanitarian aid is being allowed into Palestinian towns on a regular basis.

Specific Issues

• Oxygen - coordinating the transport of oxygen from the oxygen plant in Jenin and from Israel to all the hospitals.
• Drug and medical equipment - coordinating transport from the central drugs warehouse in Beituniya, from pharmaceutical plants in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, from the Red Cross, from Israel and donations from abroad.
• Units of blood - making up the shortfall, as required:
  110 units of blood were brought in from Mokassad Hospital to Ramallah Hospital (40) and Tulkarm Hospital (70),
  Some 2,000 units of blood were airlifted from Jordan by helicopter (April 9, 10 and 12).
  A donation from Morocco of 1,800 units of anti-clotting material was expedited (April 11) and additional donations were approved in this sphere from Morocco and from the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Diesel - diesel for emergency generators was brought in, with the emphasis on hospitals which were cut off from the power supply.
• Medical teams - coordinating the entry of medical teams to the hospitals.
• Food - coordinating bringing food into the hospitals.

Evacuation of patients / the wounded:

• As a rule, the movement of emergency vehicles to evacuate those in need and provide medical help is permitted. In practice, the different agencies ask for their movements to be coordinated, fearing to be caught up in a shooting incident in areas where fighting is taking place.
• Every day dozens of movements are coordinated to all the hospitals, by the forward coordination liaisons in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, the head of the International Organizations division and the health coordinator.

The Allenby and Rafiah border crossing points are open
Patients and the wounded can be taken abroad via these crossing points at the request of the Palestinian health service, and bodies can be taken for burial abroad.

Evacuation of patients to Israel
Cancer patients may be taken for radiation treatment, as well as severe cases for whom no treatment is available within the Palestinian Authority, as well as patients with liver disease needing dialysis who have not managed to get to the Palestinian hospitals (some fifteen patients suffering from liver disease have been evacuated to Israel).
In addition, special evacuation is allowed, such as in the case of the 13-year-old boy from Ramallah who was going to donate bone marrow for his brother in Hadassah Hospital, who was transported in a Palestinian ambulance (April 11).

Palestinian medical teams - employment in Israel
The entry of Palestinian medical teams employed in hospitals in eastern Jerusalem is permitted (these hospitals serve the Palestinian population; to date 460 permits have been issued).

Humanitarian donations to the Palestinian Authority
Since the beginning of the current situation some 700 donations to the Palestinian Authority have been approved by expedited procedures, of which 500 were humanitarian donations.
Attached are details of recent activities.

• The Israeli Ministry of Health approved a donation of medicines for all the government and private hospitals in the Palestinian Authority from Medecins Sans Frontiers (Ben Gurion Airport, in the next few days)
• The AIDA organizations request to bring in humanitarian aid to Nablus and Jenin was approved (brought in on April 13).
• An Italian donation of 2,000 tons of rice - half has been taken to the Gaza Strip area, and the rest is currently being taken to the towns of Judea and Samaria.

Hospitals:

• As of April 14, no special hardship has been reported regarding the state of affairs in the hospitals in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.
• All the hospitals are connected to a water supply, with the exception of Al-Itihad Hospital in Nablus, which uses a reservoir in the hospital.
• All the hospitals are linked up to an electrical supply, with the exception of the government hospital in Jenin, which is using a generator.

Over the past few days the hospitals have received what they require by way of diesel fuel and oxygen (with special emphasis on Jenin and Nablus).

• The Coordinator of Government Affairs in the Territories (CGAT) has set up special teams in the different sectors in order to rehabilitate essential infrastructures that have been damaged and to stabilize civilian affairs.
• At this stage the emphasis is on Jenin and Bethlehem, incorporating the Israel Electricity Corporation (IEC), the Mekorot Water Company and Palestinian teams.
• In this regard, CGAT has rented a 150 KVA generator from the IEC for the government hospital in Jenin (April 12 - transported and linked up) and the special transport of a 500 KVA generator from Ramallah to Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus has been arranged at the request of the CARE organization (transported on April 14).

Recent Humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian Authority

• Despite the state of fighting, humanitarian donations and aid are regularly allowed in to the Palestinian Authority.
• Requests for approval of humanitarian donations and aid, with the accent on the field of health, are handled by shortened procedures.
• Below is a summary of activities in this field:

Date approved	Total donations approved	Donor	Content of donations	Status
April 8, 2002	13	Countries and organizations	Medical equipment, medical supplies, medical kits, vaccines and 50 tons of clothes and blankets	Not yet brought in
April 9, 2002	1	Jordan (helicopter)	1,000 units of blood for hospitals in the Palestinian Authority	Brought in
April 10, 2002	1	Jordan (2 helicopters)	580 units of blood, medical supplies and medicines	Brought in
April 10, 2002	1	Jordan - 15 DTD trucks	Food, medicines and medical supplies	Brought in
April 11, 2002	1	WHO	Kits for blood type testing	Not yet brought in
	1	Morocco	Bags to collect blood	Not yet brought in
	1	The Greek Orthodox Church	20 tons of food	Ben Gurion Airport April 12 - not yet brought in
	2	Italy	Medical supplies (emergency kits) and water purification equipment	Ben Gurion Airport April 11 - not yet brought in
April 12, 2002	1	Jordan (2 helicopters)	Units of blood, medical equipment and medicines	Brought in (April 12)
	1	Jordan (15 trucks)	Medicines, food and clothing	Brought into Nablus and Ramallah (April 12)
April 14, 2002	1	Jordan (helicopter)	Medical equipment and medicines	Brought in (April 14)

Donations currently being handled:

Donor	Recipient	Content of donation
Norwegian Red Cross	Palestinian Red Crescent	Medical equipment
The Greek Orthodox Church	Churches in the Palestinian Authority	Food and clothing
Jordan	The Palestinian Ministry of Supplies	Food, tents and blankets
Jordan	The Palestinian Ministry of Health	3 field hospitals
Egypt	The Palestinian Ministry of Health	Medicines
France	Palestinians, via the Red Cross	40 tons of medicines, medical equipment, water containers and purifiers

Status of donations to the Palestinian Authority -
April 14, 2002