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ICRC says next few days will be ‘decisive’ for aid to Gaza

ICRC says the next few days will be "decisive" for aid to Gaza
The ICRC said it is currently conducting an intense dialogue with Israel to allow aid to flow into Gaza. Keystone-SDA

The next few days will be absolutely decisive if the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), like other humanitarian organisations, is to continue providing aid in the Gaza Strip, said its director-general Pierre Krähenbühl.

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The ICRC said it is currently conducting an intense dialogue with Israel.

“One of the difficulties at the moment is the possibility of the wounded reaching the ICRC’s field hospital,” the director-general told journalists in Geneva on Thursday. And “there will come a time when we will have drawn on what is left of the medicines and other aid”.

This situation is “unacceptable” and violates international humanitarian law (IHL), Krähenbühl added. Israel has said it wants to distribute the aid itself in the Palestinian territory.

+ Swiss foreign ministry alarmed by Gaza developments

Krähenbühl stressed the country’s right to do so, but also recalled the importance of following humanitarian principles to avoid “politically motivated” decisions. And without delay, the blockade against the large volume of aid at the border must be “lifted”, the Swiss national said.

Translated from French with DeepL/gw

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