The WHO chief says the enclave’s infrastructure is being destroyed as the UN agency warns of rising health care needs.
The United Nations estimates that around 50,000 pregnant women currently live in Gaza, with more than 180 births every day amid the “decimation” of its health system.
In a statement released on Sunday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said its doctors and midwives “are doing everything possible to provide care to postnatal and high-risk pregnant women in the seven operational UNRWA health centers” – compared to 22 before the start of the bloodiest Israeli attack ever on Gaza.
Also on Sunday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) denounced the “decimation” of Gaza’s health system while praising health professionals for continuing to work under extreme circumstances.
“The decimation of Gaza’s health system is a tragedy,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“In the face of constant insecurity and the influx of injured patients, we see doctors, nurses, paramedics and many others continuing to strive to save lives,” he added, reiterating calls for an immediate ceasefire.
The decimation of #Gaza the healthcare system is a tragedy.
But in the face of constant insecurity and an influx of injured patients, we see doctors, nurses, paramedics and many others continue to strive to save lives.@WHO and our health partners will continue to work side by side… pic.twitter.com/Lq62KoQI1f
– Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 24, 2023
The agency warned that even as health care needs increase, only 38 percent of pre-conflict hospital beds remained available in the Palestinian territory and only 30 percent of the original health personnel were still working. .
At the same time, hospitals, protected by international humanitarian law, have been hit several times by Israeli strikes since the start of the war.
As of December 20, the WHO recorded 246 Israeli attacks on health infrastructure in Gaza, including hospitals and ambulances.
Earlier this week, the WHO described “unbearable” scenes of largely abandoned patients begging for food and water after its teams visited two badly damaged hospitals in northern Gaza, where the war is the bloodiest.
The U.N. body said only nine hospitals out of 36 were partially functional throughout the besieged territory – none in the north – as Israel continued to target medical facilities.
About 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced to southern Gaza, and tens of thousands of them are crowded into UN schools or sheltering from the cold in makeshift tents .
At least 20,424 Palestinians have been killed in the 11-week war – 166 in the past 24 hours, according to Gaza officials. Tens of thousands of people are injured while many bodies remain trapped under the rubble.
