How the Arab world is responding to war-torn Gaza’s ‘beyond dire’ medical emergency

How the Arab world is responding to war-torn Gaza’s ‘beyond dire’ medical emergency

DUBAI: Hospitals, clinics and mortuaries in the Gaza Strip have been overwhelmed since the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas began one month ago, with only a trickle of vital medical supplies reaching the embattled territory.

Despite the challenges of humanitarian access, the governments of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Egypt have pledged millions of dollars in assistance, negotiating aid deliveries and establishing medical facilities to treat wounded civilians.

“There is no lack of goodwill on the part of Arab nations and peoples to help the Palestinians, at least through humanitarian support,” Ramzy Baroud, a Gaza-born Palestinian-American author, journalist and editor of the Palestine Chronicle, told Arab News.

“The next step is ensuring that that support reaches the victims of this ongoing Israeli genocide.”

About 4,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began. (AFP)

Officials from Western and Arab nations, the UN, and nongovernmental organizations gathered in Paris on Thursday for a conference on how to provide aid to civilians in Gaza, including proposals for a humanitarian maritime corridor and floating field hospitals.

Representatives from Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf countries attended the conference in the French capital, but Israeli authorities did not participate.

Saudi Arabia will host Arab leaders