{"id":352531,"date":"2026-03-28T17:25:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T17:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/352531\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T17:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T17:25:17","slug":"middle-east-war-attacks-on-vital-healthcare-evacuation-strike-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/352531\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East war: Attacks on vital healthcare, evacuation strike fears"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a rare piece of good news, though, the UN World Health Organization (WHO<\/a>) said that aid shipments are getting \u201cback on track\u201d from Dubai, one of its key relief hubs, after major disruption to flights and other shipments caused by Iranian attacks throughout the Gulf.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say the first two weeks of the crisis really set us back. But we’re now receiving bookings for commercially scheduled cargo, and we’re able to begin moving supplies out as we were in the past,\u201d said Robert Blanchard, WHO Emergency Operations Team Lead at the Dubai Logistics Hub.<\/p>\n

After a \u201csignificant reduction\u201d in air freight across the region after war erupted on 28 February, most airlines in the Gulf \u201care now back to around 50 or 60 per cent of their capacity\u201d, he explained, noting that more charter flights will accelerate the delivery of supplies, in addition to an Egypt-bound convoy carrying lifesaving medicines for Gaza.<\/p>\n

Buried under rubble in Iran<\/p>\n

From Iran, meanwhile, UN partner the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies highlighted the \u201crapidly deteriorating\u201d impact of strikes in the capital, Tehran, \u201ca city of roughly nine million people [that] feels completely empty\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Tehran still maintains some basic services, some cities in the south are facing water and electricity cuts. Not to mention the fact that we have a nationwide internet blackout since 28 February,\u201d said Maria Martinez, IFRC Head of Delegation in Iran.<\/p>\n

The humanitarian official described how one IFRC search and rescue responder \u201cdiscovered the bodies of his own family beneath the rubble\u201d.<\/p>\n

Moreover, \u201cIn Qom, another first responder recovered his aunt and her husband alongside a young child. This is the reality humanitarian workers are facing saving lives while carrying unimaginable personal loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0WHO\u2019s healthcare attacks monitor<\/a>, there have been 21 attacks on health workers and facilities in Iran since the war began. Ms. Martinez noted that 17 Red Crescent centres have been struck and nearly 100 ambulances damaged or destroyed. \u201cThese are not just vehicles. They are often the only hope people have when the bombs fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lebanon evacuation terror<\/p>\n

From Lebanon, UN teams highlighted how civilians endure \u201cintensified Israeli strikes\u201d on targets linked to Hezbollah militants, who have continued to fire rockets at Israel since the war began.<\/p>\n

Frequently, there is little warning about impending attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attack in Bashura in central Beirut last week, there was a warning issued, but maybe less than an hour before the strike hit and it was very early in the morning,\u201d said\u00a0Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR<\/a> Representative in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

She added that a\u00a0second strike \u201cclose to several collective shelters hosting displaced (people), gave \u201cno warning, it was a direct target\u2026as far as I’m aware, there have been no sites designated as safe where civilians have been advised to go to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Echoing those concerns, the UN Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF<\/a>)\u2019s Marcoluigi Corsi, Country Representative in Lebanon insisted that \u201cthere is no safe space\u201d for people to go \u2013 including the capital, Beirut. \u201cAlthough the evaluation order has been issued for the southern part of Beirut\u2026the strikes actually happen also in other parts of Beirut\u201d too, he said.<\/p>\n

More than one million people have now fled their homes in Lebanon in just a few weeks, UN aid teams say, highlighting the trauma of the upheaval.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have met women and girls forced to make devastating choices, fleeing their homes at night without clear destination, losing their families\u2019 entire livelihoods and leaving behind their sense of safety and everything that is familiar,\u201d said Gielan El Messiri, UN Women<\/a> Representative in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Bridges blown<\/p>\n

The destruction of bridges in southern Lebanon by the Israeli military has created serious safety and humanitarian concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccess\u2026is also becoming increasingly difficult because the destruction of key bridges in the south has cut off entire districts and isolating over 150,000 people and severely limiting humanitarian access with essential items to reach them,\u201d UNHCR\u2019s Ms. Billing added.<\/p>\n

She said that from 2-23 March, well over 15 humanitarian operations have brought essential relief items to people still in the south. “But there have also been some of these convoys where the notification was not approved. So, we were not able then to proceed with it because of the security risks. One, for example, last week was not approved and then it could proceed a couple of days later.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a rare piece of good news, though, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said that aid shipments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-352531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}