Middle East war: Attacks on vital healthcare, evacuation strike fears

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Almost one month since Israeli and US airstrikes on Iran began, sparking a wider regional war, UN agencies and partners on Friday highlighted the terror among civilians fleeing bombardment, with “no safe space” to go.

In a rare piece of good news, though, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said that aid shipments are getting “back on track” from Dubai, one of its key relief hubs, after major disruption to flights and other shipments caused by Iranian attacks throughout the Gulf.

“I would say the first two weeks of the crisis really set us back. But we’re now receiving bookings for commercially scheduled cargo, and we’re able to begin moving supplies out as we were in the past,” said Robert Blanchard, WHO Emergency Operations Team Lead at the Dubai Logistics Hub.

After a “significant reduction” in air freight across the region after war erupted on 28 February, most airlines in the Gulf “are now back to around 50 or 60 per cent of their capacity”, he explained, noting that more charter flights will accelerate the delivery of supplies, in addition to an Egypt-bound convoy carrying lifesaving medicines for Gaza.

Buried under rubble in Iran

From Iran, meanwhile, UN partner the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies highlighted the “rapidly deteriorating” impact of strikes in the capital, Tehran, “a city of roughly nine million people [that] feels completely empty”. 

“While Tehran still maintains some basic services, some cities in the south are facing water and electricity cuts. Not to mention the fact that we have a nationwide internet blackout since 28 February,” said Maria Martinez, IFRC Head of Delegation in Iran.

The humanitarian official described how one IFRC search and rescue responder “discovered the bodies of his own family beneath the rubble”.

Moreover, “In Qom, another first responder recovered his aunt and her husband alongside a young child. This is the reality humanitarian workers are facing saving lives while carrying unimaginable personal loss.”

According to WHO’s healthcare attacks monitor, there have been 21 attacks on health workers and facilities in Iran since the war began. Ms. Martinez noted that 17 Red Crescent centres have been struck and nearly 100 ambulances damaged or destroyed. “These are not just vehicles. They are often the only hope people have when the bombs fall.”

Lebanon evacuation terror

From Lebanon, UN teams highlighted how civilians endure “intensified Israeli strikes” on targets linked to Hezbollah militants, who have continued to fire rockets at Israel since the war began.

Frequently, there is little warning about impending attacks.

“The attack in Bashura in central Beirut last week, there was a warning issued, but maybe less than an hour before the strike hit and it was very early in the morning,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Lebanon.

She added that a second strike “close to several collective shelters hosting displaced (people), gave “no warning, it was a direct target…as far as I’m aware, there have been no sites designated as safe where civilians have been advised to go to.”

Echoing those concerns, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s Marcoluigi Corsi, Country Representative in Lebanon insisted that “there is no safe space” for people to go – including the capital, Beirut. “Although the evaluation order has been issued for the southern part of Beirut…the strikes actually happen also in other parts of Beirut” too, he said.

More than one million people have now fled their homes in Lebanon in just a few weeks, UN aid teams say, highlighting the trauma of the upheaval.

“I have met women and girls forced to make devastating choices, fleeing their homes at night without clear destination, losing their families’ entire livelihoods and leaving behind their sense of safety and everything that is familiar,” said Gielan El Messiri, UN Women Representative in Lebanon.

Bridges blown

The destruction of bridges in southern Lebanon by the Israeli military has created serious safety and humanitarian concerns.

“Access…is also becoming increasingly difficult because the destruction of key bridges in the south has cut off entire districts and isolating over 150,000 people and severely limiting humanitarian access with essential items to reach them,” UNHCR’s Ms. Billing added.

She said that from 2-23 March, well over 15 humanitarian operations have brought essential relief items to people still in the south. “But there have also been some of these convoys where the notification was not approved. So, we were not able then to proceed with it because of the security risks. One, for example, last week was not approved and then it could proceed a couple of days later.”