Leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he hoped the resolution would be the starting point for further UN action on the crisis.
The World Health Organization has adopted a resolution, the first by a United Nations agency, calling for immediate access to life-saving humanitarian aid and an end to the fighting in Gaza.
The resolution – calling for the “immediate, sustained and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance, including access for medical personnel” – was adopted by consensus at the end of a special session of the WHO Executive Board on Sunday .
He also called on “all parties to fulfill their obligations under international law” and reaffirmed “that all parties to armed conflict must comply fully with the obligations applicable to them under international humanitarian law regarding the protection of civilians in armed conflicts and medical personnel. »
This extraordinary meeting of the Executive Board was only the seventh in the 75-year history of WHO.
The adoption of the resolution “underscores the importance of health as a universal priority, in all circumstances, and the role of health care and humanitarianism in building bridges to peace, even in the most difficult situations.” more difficult,” the WHO said in a statement after the resolution. meeting.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has struggled to respond to the worsening crisis in Gaza which erupted after the Palestinian armed group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 prisoners.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas and subjected Gaza, which Hamas has controlled since 2006, to relentless attacks, killing at least 18,000 people.
The UN says about 80 percent of the population has been displaced and faces shortages of food, water and medicine, as well as a growing threat of disease.
A resolution for a humanitarian ceasefire proposed by the United Arab Emirates and co-sponsored by 100 other countries failed to pass at the UN Security Council on Friday after the United States vetoed the proposal. The United States is one of five permanent members of the Council with veto power.
The vote came after U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 on Wednesday to formally warn the 15-member council of the global threat posed by the two-month-old war.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN health agency’s resolution could be a starting point for further action.
“This does not resolve the crisis. But it’s a platform to build on,” he said in his closing remarks to the board.
“Without a ceasefire, there is no peace. And without peace, no health. I urge all Member States, especially those with the most influence, to work urgently to end this conflict as quickly as possible.
Fighting resumed this month after a week-long pause in hostilities that saw the release of some Israeli and foreign prisoners in exchange for a number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, as well as the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
As Israel now steps up its military actions in the south of the territory of more than 2 million people, calls for an end to the fighting have intensified.
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is expected to vote on a resolution in favor of an immediate ceasefire on Tuesday, after Egypt and Mauritania invoked Resolution 377 “unite for peace” in following the American veto.
Adopted by the UNGA in 1950, Resolution 377 allows the 193-member body to act where the UNSC has failed to “exercise its primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security.”
Their letter also referred to Guterres’ invocation of Article 99 of the United Nations Charter on December 6.