Destroyed health and sanitation systems must be restored in Gaza, says the World Health Organization.
If health and sanitation systems are not repaired, more people could die from diseases than from bombings in the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
Critical infrastructure in the besieged territory has been crippled by shortages of fuel and supplies and targeted attacks on hospitals and United Nations facilities since Israel launched strikes on Gaza on October 7.
“Ultimately, we will see more people die from diseases than from bombings if we fail to rebuild this health system,” WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said at a press briefing in Geneva. Tuesday.
She called the collapse of al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza a “tragedy” and expressed concern over the detention of some of its medical staff by Israeli forces who retook the complex at the beginning of the month.
She also reiterated concerns about an increase in infectious disease outbreaks in Gaza, particularly diarrheal diseases.
Citing a United Nations report on the living conditions of displaced residents in northern Gaza, she said: “(There are) no medicines, no vaccination activities, no access to drinking water and hygiene and no food. »
“Risk of major epidemics”
All major sanitation services have stopped functioning in Gaza, raising the prospect of a huge wave of gastrointestinal and infectious diseases among local populations – including cholera.
For Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, half of whom are children, finding clean drinking water has become almost impossible.
The WHO has recorded more than 44,000 cases of diarrhea and 70,000 acute respiratory infections, but the real numbers could be much higher.
The UN health agency has expressed extreme concern that rains and flooding during the approaching winter season will further worsen an already dire situation.
James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations children’s agency in Gaza, told reporters via video link that hospitals were full of children suffering from war injuries and gastroenteritis from eating ‘dirty water. “They don’t have access to clean water and that paralyzes them,” he said.
If nothing changes, “more and more people will become ill and the risk of major outbreaks will increase significantly,” Richard Brennan, regional emergencies director for the Eastern Mediterranean region at WHO, told Tel Aviv Tribune at Beginning of the month.
The truce is not enough
Despite the temporary truce agreement between Israel and Hamas, which was extended by two days after it was due to expire Tuesday morning, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said no fuel had arrived for the generators for hospitals in the north of the territory.
UN official Tor Wennesland warned that the humanitarian situation “remains catastrophic”.
This “requires the urgent entry of additional aid and supplies in a smooth, predictable and continuous manner to alleviate the unbearable suffering of Palestinians in Gaza,” said the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process. East.
Gaza City Mayor Yahya al-Siraj said that without fuel, the territory would not be able to pump clean water or dispose of waste accumulating in the streets, warning of a potential “disaster » public health.
Cleaning was underway at al-Shifa, which is Gaza’s largest hospital. “We hope he can resume his activities soon,” Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Mahmud Hammad said.
Israeli bombings have killed more than 14,800 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and more than 4,000 women, according to the enclave’s health authorities.