Gaza’s Health system ‘on its knees,’ warns WHO chief

UNITED NATIONS: Amid escalating Israeli attacks on Gaza, World Health Organization (WHO) Chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that half of the hospitals in the bomb-out enclave are non-operational, stressing that the health system in the bombed-out Palestinian enclave is “on its knees”.

Briefing the UN Security Council on the state of medical facilities in Gaza, he made a fervent appeal for an immediate ceasefire and unfettered humanitarian access to the enclave where “nowhere and no one is safe” as the Israel-Palestinian war rages on.

The WHO chief said that the situation is impossible to describe, with hospital corridors crammed with the injured, the sick and the dying, morgues overflowing, and surgical procedures conducted without anaesthesia.

Thousands of displaced people are sheltering at hospitals, with 70 per cent of the more than 10,800 people so far killed being women and children.

“On average, a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza,” Tedros stated. Some 1.5 million people now are displaced and looking for shelter anywhere, but “nowhere and no one is safe” and overcrowding is increasing the risk of diarrheal and respiratory diseases and skin infections, he said.

WHO, which was part of the first aid convoy to enter Gaza through the Rafah Crossing on 21 October, has since delivered 63 metric tons of specialist medical equipment and supplies, but this does not address the scale of needs, he added.

Since 7 October, WHO has verified more than 250 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza and the West Bank, in addition to 25 attacks on similar sites facilities in Israel, he added.

He called for unfettered access into Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, for Hamas to release its hostages and for Israel to restore electricity, water and fuel supplies. He also called for a ceasefire and for both sides to abide by international humanitarian law.