Red Cross: Conditions in Gaza ‘worse than hell on earth’
Steve Dorsey, U.S. head of communications and public affairs for the International Committee of the Red Cross, speaks about civilian suffering in Gaza with “EWTN News Nightly” host Erik Rosales on June 4, 2025. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly” screenshot
CNA Staff, Jun 5, 2025 / 11:45 am (CNA).
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its 60-bed field hospital in Rafah, Gaza Strip, was nearly overwhelmed by a mass casualty event on Tuesday that brought 184 patients through its doors.
The aid group said Tuesday’s influx of patients was the highest the hospital has seen in one day since its opening more than a year ago. Nineteen of those patients were dead on arrival, and an additional eight died shortly thereafter, mostly from gunshot wounds.
The same day, International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric told the BBC that Palestinians have been stripped of their human dignity and international humanitarian law is being ignored, saying “humanity is failing” and the situation in Gaza is “worse than hell on earth.”
After responding to five mass casualty events in Gaza in the last week — four of them in the last 96 hours alone — the group is calling for the “respect and protection of civilians,” who should not have to confront danger when trying to reach humanitarian assistance.
Steve Dorsey, the U.S. head of communications and public affairs at the Red Cross committee in Gaza, spoke with “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Erik Rosales on Wednesday evening, telling him the situation in Gaza “is unbearable. We are at a breaking point.”
Dorsey told Rosales that Tuesday’s mass casualty incident is the “latest illustration” of the Palestinian people’s desperation to access aid and relief, including food and medical care.
Those who survived Tuesday’s attack said they were trying to reach an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the aid organization backed by the U.S. and Israel and the only one currently allowed to operate in Gaza.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops fired on civilians who were “deviating from the designated access routes,” leading IDF to designate the distribution site as a “combat zone.”
The distribution site was closed on Wednesday for “update, organization, and efficiency improvements works,” according to IDF. It reopened on Thursday.
Distribution site closures have prevented the delivery of the former popemobile-turned-ambulance for children donated by Pope Francis before his death.
According to Dorsey, humanitarian workers and civilians in Gaza are “entering a new dangerous time.” He told Rosales the Red Cross’ limited access to the region and dwindling supplies have forced them to shut down the majority of community kitchens that fed thousands of people a day.
Millions of Palestinians are at risk for starvation, according to the United Nations.
On June 4, the head of humanitarian relief at the U.N., Tom Fletcher, condemned IDF’s attacks on civilians who were “simply trying to eat.”
Fletcher also called for independent investigations into the attacks near aid distribution sites, urging Israel to allow more aid and relief into Gaza.
Pope Leo XIV in the first general audience of his pontificate last month appealed for an end to hostilities in Gaza and for the entrance of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
In addition to providing medical care and food, Dorsey said his organization has been rebuilding sanitation and water systems in the area.
The International Committee of the Red Cross serves as the custodian of the Geneva Conventions, specifically the* *Fourth Geneva Convention, adopted in 1949 after the atrocities of World War II.
It focuses on protections for civilians, including those in occupied territories, prohibiting acts like torture, collective punishment, and attacks on civilian infrastructure. It also mandates humane treatment for displaced persons, access to medical care, and the right to family communication.