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DUBAI: Despite donations to assist the people of embattled Gaza, there is a need for “more sustained humanitarian access” to Palestinians in need, according to Clare Dalton, head of delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the UAE.

Appearing on the Arab News current-affairs show “Frankly Speaking,” shortly before a four-day humanitarian pause in the fighting between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas went into effect on Friday, Dalton said the needs of the Gazan population were not being met by the limited number of trucks permitted to enter the territory.

“There is a need for more sustained humanitarian access inside Gaza, because that is where people need the help,” she said, adding that until Israel allows a greater number of trucks to enter Gaza via the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, civilian needs cannot be met. 

“I think the big challenge is that a lot of aid has been sent to help people, however not much is actually getting in,” Dalton told Katie Jensen, the host of “Frankly Speaking.”

“The number of trucks that have been able to access Gaza since the beginning of this terrible crisis is really limited.

“All aid is really needed and important. It’s just not enough. And, if you look at the numbers of trucks that were coming into Gaza before Oct. 7 … it was about 500 a day. Since this crisis, I think we’ve only seen 1,200 trucks come in. That’s a huge gap.”

Dalton added: “Not only are the normal needs of people not being met; on top of this has been this devastating conflict where infrastructure has been destroyed, people have been killed, they’re injured, they’re fleeing, and there’s not enough. And there’s even less humanitarian aid for them.”

The humanitarian pause, negotiated through American, Qatari and Egyptian intermediaries, was primarily instituted to allow for the safe release of Israeli and foreign hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

The hostages were seized by the militant group when it launched its cross-border attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, during which 1,200 people were killed and around 230 Israelis and other foreign nationals were abducted and taken back to Gaza.

It was this attack that triggered Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, a crackdown on humanitarian and commercial shipments entering the territory, and a military ground offensive with a view to eliminating Hamas.

The ICRC, as a neutral party, played a crucial role in the exchange of the first batch of hostages on Friday. In advance of the humanitarian pause, Mirjana Spoljaric, the ICRC’s president, traveled to Qatar, where she met with Ismael Haniyeh, chair of Hamas’ political bureau.

“As the International Red Cross, we always talk to all parties to the conflict in order to pass messages on the way that civilians are treated and all these humanitarian issues we’re discussing,” Dalton said.

“Now, we don’t negotiate with parties. What we can do is, if parties come to an agreement, we can help facilitate that. I don’t actually know about the details of these meetings. However, as the ICRC, our job is always to do the best that we can for the people on the ground, the civilian needs.

“And we have a specific mandate under international law to do that, but also like many actors, we’re trying our best to deliver humanitarian assistance.”

The ICRC has medical teams working inside Gaza, where health infrastructure has been overwhelmed by the number of wounded civilians amid shortages of electricity, potable water, medicines and anesthetics.

Throughout the conflict, Israel has accused Hamas of using tunnels, arms caches and command centers burrowed beneath Gaza’s major hospitals — effectively turning medical staff and their civilian patients into human shields.

Asked whether the ICRC’s teams working in Gaza were aware of any such tunnels, Dalton said the organization has a very different mandate. “It’s not our job to verify these kinds of claims. That’s a different thing. For us, what’s important is the needs of people suffering,” she said.

Asked whether she believed civilians were being used as human shields by Hamas, Dalton said: “That I don’t know. I feel what we’re concerned with as well is, indeed, what are the needs, what do people need, what can we do to our best ability to support them.”

She added: “As an international humanitarian organization, we don’t take sides. It’s not our job to do that. Those are political questions and I’m sure there are people out there who have opinions or can answer them.”

She reiterated ICRC’s role as a neutral party to the conflict. “As humanitarian actors, if we are going to do our jobs, (we have) to be able to give people aid on an impartial basis,” she said. “And as the ICRC, we operate along this principle of neutrality. We can’t be seen to take sides and that’s really important for our humanitarian access.”

Critics of Israel’s campaign to destroy Hamas say its response to the Oct. 7 attack has been disproportionate, exacting a far greater toll on Gaza’s civilian population and the enclave’s infrastructure.

According to the local health authorities, who report to the Hamas government, more than 14,000 people have been killed in Gaza under Israeli bombardment, the majority of them women and children. Meanwhile, some 1.7 million have been displaced by the fighting.

“It’s a devastating situation,” said Dalton. “People are facing immeasurable difficulty and civilians in particular are really, really suffering. Since this started, the situation has been getting gradually worse. The situation civilians find themselves in is very difficult.

“Gaza is a very highly densely populated city. And so, of course, people don’t have many places they can flee or evacuate to.

“The damage to critical infrastructure is going to be very bad. And then when people move, where do they go? I think all of these things are compounding the difficulty people face anyway in a situation where there’s a conflict.”

Asked whether this was the worst humanitarian disaster she had witnessed in her 15 years at ICRC, Dalton said it was wrong to make comparisons, but acknowledged that the hardships imposed on Gaza went well beyond acceptable limits in warfare.

“War is terrible and the impact on people is devastating,” she said. “Whoever you are and whichever side you’re on, I think it’s really hard to make these comparisons.

“We like to say there’s no hierarchy in suffering. If you’re a mother whose child is being killed, wherever that is or whichever situation, that’s just terrible. And our message is always, wars take place, but they should have limits.”

On Nov. 7, ICRC confirmed that one of its humanitarian aid convoys had come under fire in Gaza City. Two trucks were damaged and a driver lightly wounded as the convoy, which was carrying “lifesaving medical supplies to health facilities, including to Al-Quds hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society,” came under fire, the organization posted on X.

The ICRC said it was “deeply troubled” by the incident and reminded the warring “parties of their obligation under international humanitarian law to respect and protect humanitarian workers at all times.”

The statement did not identify the source of the fire on the convoy, which consisted of five trucks and two ICRC vehicles.

“I don’t know who we came under fire from,” said Dalton. “In the end, perhaps, that’s not the important fact. It’s that medical workers, trying to carry out lifesaving work, risking their lives and the lives of patients, in trying to do their jobs. That shouldn’t be the case.

“If we’re not able to deliver lifesaving assistance, people will die unnecessarily. So, our message is always that doctors, humanitarian workers, medical personnel should be protected when carrying out their jobs.”

The UN has called the Gaza conflict the deadliest ever for its humanitarian workers, with reports of more than 100 fatalities among the ranks of aid agencies since the war began.

“It’s so difficult to be able to do our jobs, humanitarian actors in these kinds of conditions,” said Dalton.

“We have a field surgical team, a medical surgical team in a hospital in the south of Gaza, the European Gaza Hospital, who’ve been there for about three weeks. And when we hear the stories of what they’re trying to do, the patients that they’re trying to treat, of course, it’s immense suffering they’re seeing all around them.

“There’s no electricity. It’s often dark. It’s extremely overwhelming. Medical supplies are not enough. Patients are continually coming with very devastating injuries, burns, things that need very specialized treatment. So it’s incredibly difficult.

“And without electricity, many other essential services don’t function. There’s not enough water. People don’t have enough food. Now it’s starting to get colder. It’s raining. Families are on the move trying to find safety.

“We, as humanitarian actors, have to try and do our best to provide people with the assistance that they need. It’s very, very difficult. The security conditions are hard for everyone. Equally, there’s not enough aid getting in, given the immense scale of the needs.”

Part of the ICRC’s mandate is to monitor whether combatants are abiding by international humanitarian law. Since the outset of the conflict, both Israel and Hamas have been accused of committing war crimes.

“We see examples, every day, that look like, in cases, maybe there are challenges to that (international humanitarian law),” said Dalton. “But we try to be the guardian of these rules, to talk to the parties of the conflict about them, to remind everyone of their obligations. We’re not a guarantor.”

But is that message getting through?

“I guess if you’re a civilian on the ground experiencing the impact of all of this, you probably don’t think it’s getting through,” said Dalton. “I think for us, we can just do what we can. And it is very important to keep reminding parties of their obligations.

“It may seem a bit dry and not particularly directly able to impact people’s terrible conditions. However, it is and it can make a difference.

“If critical infrastructure is not damaged unnecessarily, it has less impact on people’s ability to have water, electricity, all of these things.”

Unless further humanitarian pauses are agreed, or, as aid chiefs hope, a permanent ceasefire is implemented, the need for donations and convoys will continue to grow.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries have been deploying aid flights and shipments, while their citizens have given generously to charity.

“Given the devastating level of need that we’ve been discussing, a lot of support is needed,” said Dalton. “As ICRC, we have a humanitarian appeal, as do many organizations, and there are many different ways that people could support us.

“We’re here in the UAE, and the GCC countries have been very generous, as well, in sending aid, in funding humanitarian actors. This is very important.”