Palestinian Ambassador urges India’s aid amid Israel’s operation in Rafah

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Israel is now pushing ahead with its operation into the Palestinian city of Rafah. The Palestinian envoy to India has sought India’s help in providing life-saving medicines, adding that Palestine is running out of essential drugs and called for India’s help.

Palestinian Ambassador Adnan Abu Al-Haija has urged India to send critical medicines for cancer treatment and treating the wounded in Gaza as the war in the strip enters its seventh month.

Hija said, “India has never said no to anything we ask for. Lots of projects has been financed by India still going on in Palestine and they are ready if we ask them. Yesterday they told me before that they will send medicine and other aid to Rafah.”

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Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Ambassador Adnan Abu Al-Hija also talked about the immediate impact of Israel’s operation into Rafah on the people of Palestine.

Patients and staff are being forced out of hospitals across the area as the attacks are intensifying, leaving many sick and wounded Palestinians without any treatment.

Heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and driven more than 1,10,000 people to flee north.
With nothing entering through the crossings, food and other supplies were running critically low.

The World Food Program will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday, said Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Rafah. Aid groups have said fuel will also be depleted soon, forcing hospitals to shut down critical operations and bringing to a halt trucks delivering aid across south and central Gaza.

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The UN and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israel assault on Rafah, on the border with Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties. More than 1.4 million Palestinians half of Gaza’s population have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israel’s offensives elsewhere.

With inputs from PTI

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow