World Health Organization (WHO) staff has been unable to get into northern Gaza since October, leaving no way to provide Palestinians in the area with supplies, medical personnel and other aid, said the organization's spokeswoman on Saturday.
According to Palestinian media reports, the Israeli military has been carrying out continuous airstrikes on the northern and central areas of the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing at least 40 people.
Amid the attacks, survivors are facing increasingly acute shortages of essentials. In an interview with China Global Television Network, WHO spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris said efforts to help residents in the area have been blocked since the start of the month.
"My colleagues in Gaza can't get in, So, we have mounted missions every day in October, and every day they've either been impeded or denied. So, we have not been able to get into northern Gaza all of this month. And that means no medical supplies have been getting to hospitals, no fuel, no food, of course, from our colleagues from World Food Program, no people -- we bring in medical teams as well. And in north Gaza, one of the main pediatric hospitals, Kamal Adwan, is also a malnutrition center. We had set up a center for feeding of the children who were starving. Now we can't get in at all to provide supplies. But also, there are many children in those hospitals that we would like to evacuate out of north Gaza, but we can't get in," she said.
The WHO has been carrying out a UN polio vaccination campaign that had already covered about 559,000 children in central and southern Gaza by mid-September, but efforts have lagged in the north.
"It's critical that humanitarian missions are allowed back into the north, supplies depend on it. We are actually starting a polio campaign next week. The north is the last of the areas that that will happen in. But again, we need safe passage and what we really need, and we've said over and over again, and people treat us as if we are talking about fairyland, but we need a ceasefire, we need peace," Harris said.
WHO blocked from entering northern Gaza since October: spokeswoman
WHO blocked from entering northern Gaza since October: spokeswoman
WHO blocked from entering northern Gaza since October: spokeswoman
China is ready to strengthen the synergy of development strategies with Laos, promote the expansion and improvement of economic and trade cooperation, explore more converging interests and new cooperation opportunities for mutual success and common development, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said in Vientiane on Saturday.
Li made the remarks when meeting with Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone at the Prime Minister's Office during his official visit to Laos.
China and Laos are good neighbors, good friends, good comrades and good partners that share a river and a common future, Li noted.
Under the strategic guidance of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, and Thongloun Sisoulith, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and Lao president, the building of the China-Laos community with a shared future has continued to deepen and advance with solid progress, Li said.
China has always regarded the development of relations with Laos as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, and is willing to take the 15th anniversary of the China-Laos comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership as an opportunity to further implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the two parties and countries, deepen political mutual trust, firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests, strengthen solidarity and coordination, and make the China-Laos community with a shared future stronger, more dynamic and effective, so as to better benefit the two peoples, he said.
Li pointed out that China is ready to work with Laos to speed up the development along the China-Laos Railway and juxtaposed border control, and strengthen cooperation in new energy, advanced manufacturing, digital economy and artificial intelligence, among other fields.
China is willing to import more quality agricultural products from Laos, he said, calling on the two sides to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in medical care, education, media, culture and tourism and at sub-national levels to deepen mutual understanding and amity between the two peoples and consolidate China-Laos friendship from generation to generation.
Congratulating Laos on the successful hosting of the leaders' meetings on East Asia cooperation as the rotating chair of ASEAN, Li said that China stands ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with Laos in the United Nations, ASEAN, Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and other multilateral mechanisms, actively implement the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative, and jointly advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.
For his part, Sonexay warmly congratulated China on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, highly praised China's remarkable development achievements, and sincerely thanked China for its long-term strong support for Laos' economic and social development.
Noting that the top leaders of the two parties and countries signed a new action plan on building the Laos-China community with a shared future in October last year, he said this year marks the opening year for the implementation of the action plan.
Laos is willing to work with China to implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the two parties and two countries, strengthen high-level and all-level exchanges in various fields, give full play to the role of the Laos-China Railway in driving economic and trade cooperation, expand collaboration in trade, investment, agriculture, infrastructure, digital economy and others, as well as deepen cultural, people-to-people and tourist exchanges and cooperation, Sonexay said.
Laos is also ready to provide mutual support and cooperation with China in international and regional affairs, jointly safeguard strategic interests, and continuously improve and upgrade the building of the Laos-China community with a shared future, he added.
After their meeting, Li and Sonexay together attended a ceremony which presented cooperation documents on interconnectivity, economy and trade, inspection and quarantine, green development and other fields.
Prior to the meeting, Sonexay held a welcome ceremony for Li at the Prime Minister's Office.
During Li's visit, the two sides released a joint statement between the two countries.
China ready to strengthen synergy of development strategies with Laos: Chinese premier
