12/11/2023–|Last updated: 11/12/202309:57 AM (Mecca time)
The World Health Organization has confirmed that it will be almost impossible to improve the catastrophic health situation in Gaza, even if more medical supplies and personnel are brought into the Strip.
In turn, the organization’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that medical needs in Gaza have increased, and that the risk of diseases has worsened, while the level of health system coverage has shrunk to a third compared to what the situation was before the war.
Ghebreyesus added that reports indicate that “more than 17,000 people died in Gaza, including 7,000 children, and we do not know how many were buried under the rubble of their homes, while more than 46,000 injuries were reported.”
He added, “Up to 1.9 million people have become displaced and are looking for shelter anywhere they can find it, stressing that there is no safe place and no one is safe in Gaza.”
He said that as more residents move to a small area, overcrowding, coupled with a lack of food, water, shelter and adequate sanitation, creates ideal conditions for the spread of epidemic diseases, noting that there is only one shower unit for every 700 people, and one toilet for every 150 people.
For its part, the government media office in Gaza warned of the spread of famine throughout the Gaza Strip, and the office spokesman held international organizations and the Israeli occupation responsible for the deterioration of the humanitarian situation and the loss of food and water security.
Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, said that half of Gaza’s population is now starving. He added that 350,000 people have been infected with infections, including 115,000 who suffer from severe respiratory infections and do not have warm clothes, covers, or means of protection from the rain.
He added that many people complain of stomach problems due to the lack of clean water and not enough fuel to boil them, which threatens the spread of dysentery, which is bloody diarrhea, in addition to typhoid and cholera.
Urgent aid
The World Health Organization adopted a resolution calling for allowing immediate and unimpeded humanitarian relief access to the Gaza Strip, including the arrival of medical personnel, medical equipment, transportation, and supplies.
The resolution submitted by Afghanistan, Morocco, Qatar and Yemen also calls for granting exit permits to patients.
The resolution seeks to provide medicines and medical equipment to the civilian population and to enable all persons deprived of their liberty to obtain medical treatment.
The United States did not object to the decision, but it registered reservations, considering that the call for a ceasefire allows the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to repeat what happened on October 7.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization stressed his support for the call of the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, for a permanent and urgent ceasefire for humanitarian reasons, to ensure the delivery of vital aid to those who urgently need it in the Gaza Strip.
Ghebreyesus said that it would be difficult to meet the requests of the Executive Council in light of the security situation on the ground, and added that he deeply regretted that the United Nations Security Council was unable to agree on a ceasefire resolution after the United States used its veto power.
For her part, Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkaila called for an immediate halt to the “brutal war in Gaza” and the immediate and unconditional entry of fuel, water, aid and medical supplies into the Strip.
Targeting health facilities
The Director-General of the World Health Organization confirmed that more than 449 Israeli attacks have occurred on health services in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since the seventh of last October.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said that the Israeli occupation deliberately targeted 132 health institutions and put 22 hospitals and 46 health centers out of service, and 295 health personnel were martyred.
He explained that hospitals in southern Gaza have lost their capacity and are helpless in the face of the huge numbers of wounded, stressing that dozens of wounded are losing their lives.
He added that the occupation is still detaining 36 health personnel, led by Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, General Director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, in inhumane conditions.
She said that the daily atrocities occurring in the Gaza Strip “defy international law and shatter the core of our common humanity.”
Since last October 7, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that has left 17,700 martyrs, more than 48,000 wounded, most of them children and women, massive infrastructure destruction, and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.