A World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson has warned that more people could die from disease than from bombings in the Gaza Strip if its health system is not repaired,
Gaza health authorities deemed reliable by the United Nations say more than 15,000 people have been confirmed killed in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, around 40 per cent of them children, with many more dead feared to be lost under rubble.
Israel has sworn to annihilate Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, after its gunmen burst across the fence and killed around 1,200 people and seized 240 captives on October 7th.
“Eventually we will see more people dying from disease than we are even seeing from the bombardment if we are not able to put back (together) this health system,” said the WHO’s Margaret Harris at a UN briefing in Geneva.
She expressed her continued worry about an increase in disease outbreaks, especially those related to diarrhoea.
Citing a UN report on the living conditions of displaced residents in northern Gaza, she said: “(There are) no medicines, no vaccination activities, no access to safe water and hygiene and no food. We saw a very high number of cases of diarrhoea among infants,” she said.
She called the collapse of the Al Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza a “tragedy” and expressed alarm over the fact that Israeli forces had detained some of the hospital’s medical workers while evacuating a WHO convoy.
James Elder, a spokesperson from the UN Children’s Agency in Gaza, told reporters by video link that hospitals in Gaza were full of children with war wounds and gastroenteritis from drinking dirty water.
“I met a lot of parents… They know exactly what their children need. They don’t have access to safe water and it’s crippling them,” he said.
He related how, due to a shortage of medical personnel, he witnessed a boy who was missing part of his leg lying on the hospital floor for several hours without receiving any treatment.
