TEHRAN – The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have emphasized the need to facilitate the unimpeded flow of humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

The head of the IRCS, Pirhossein Kolivand, in an online meeting with the Near and Middle East regional director for the ICRC, Nicolas Von Arx, has highlighted the need to boost global cooperation to dispatch immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza, the IRCS website reported.

The officials also called it essential to rebuild medical centers and provide medical and psychological support to the children, women, and the elderly in the Gaza Strip.

Referring to the ICRC report on measures taken to assist Gaza, Kolivand said the condition in Gaza is difficult and heartbreaking. According to the report, over two million people, in need of food and drinking water, have been displaced. Medical infrastructures in Gaza are destroyed, there are 93,000 pregnant women and mothers with newly born babies, and 25,000 civilians need medicines to survive. These groups should be prioritized in delivering humanitarian aid.

All the countries should collaborate to facilitate the entry of aid and relief teams to Gaza; they should help to reconstruct the medical centers in Gaza.

Arx, for his part, enumerated on the ICRC measures, saying that “following the October 7 attack, some 60,000 Palestinians have been displaced. Our co-workers are still in Gaza and Rafah, which is great.

However, over the past 5 months, we have lost four of our staff.” Referring to the field hospitals set up in the region, the official said that over the past few months, the Israeli forces targeted the hospitals several times daily while our colleagues were performing surgeries, but even under these circumstances, we did not stop providing services to war-affected people.

The official went on to say that "an estimated 17,000 people in Gaza need to find their relatives. So far, we have been able to connect about 5,000 individuals with their families.”

“An important part of our mission is to promote compliance with humanitarian law and improve protection for civilians. We strive to prioritize these core issues in discussions between the parties to the conflict,” Arx added.

The official also lauded the IRCS for its efforts to maintain impartiality in dispatching humanitarian aid to people in Gaza.

Immediate actions on humanitarian crisis in Gaza

In July, Kolivand, in a letter to the president of the ICRC, called for prompt actions to be taken to stop the humanitarian crisis escalated by starvation in Gaza and end the torture of civilians.

Referring to the reports of the World Food Program (WFP) and United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the IRCS head Pir-Hossein Kolivand said that about a quarter of the Gaza population is facing famine, and thousands of women and children have died because of malnutrition.

Also, there have been reports of Zionist military forces targeting civilians waiting in line for food, the official added.

The letter highlights Israeli actions as a clear example of war crimes and a clear violation of the principles of humanitarian law. The actions of the Israeli regime could fall under the definition of genocide in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the 1948 Convention.

The official went on to call on the ICRC to utilize all its capacities to expand humanitarian diplomacy with responsible institutions to pave the way for humanitarian aid to the region.

MT/MG