Humanitarians answer Gaza Civil Defense call for help: UN

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Amid continuing reports of Israeli attacks in all five Gaza governorates, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday that they answered a Civil Defense distress call and helped coordinate the rescue of injured people in Gaza City.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the rescues occurred on Monday in the Tufah neighborhood, following a distress call from Civil Defense teams. Details of the nature of the distress call were not available.

The World Health Organization said its team led the medical evacuation of 18 patients and 54 companions from Gaza for treatment abroad, adding that more than 16,500 patients still need life-saving care that is not available in Gaza.

OCHA said that with winter approaching, the humanitarian community in the Gaza Strip is working to scale up the delivery of assistance to people in need, including children, who have suffered immensely over the past two years.

In the past two months, humanitarian partners have provided, alongside the distribution of other essential supplies, tens of thousands of critical items to help prepare for colder weather, including shoes, clothes, blankets and towels, to children across the strip.

The humanitarian office repeated its call for the opening of all available border crossings and corridors, so that patients can seek treatment in the West Bank, and it stressed the need for unimpeded access for international emergency medical teams to enter Gaza.

In the West Bank, OCHA said it remains concerned about the impact of operations by Israeli forces in the northern governorates of Tubas and Jenin in recent days. It said there are reports of displacement, insecurity, destruction of water networks and the closure of several commercial structures.

"In the past two days alone, nearly two dozen Palestinian families have been displaced from their homes, which were turned into military observation posts," OCHA said.