By Deutsche Welle
10 Dec 2023, 09:12 AM EST
The impact of the conflict in the Gaza Strip on the health sector has been “catastrophic”said this Sunday (12/10/2023) the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, during an emergency meeting of the entity on the occasion of armed clashes between Israel and pro-Palestinian militias.
The current situation has created ideal conditions for the spread of deadly diseasesadded Tedros, who said that the WHO will do everything in its power to improve the situation, despite the violence. The health system practically collapsed due to hundreds of attacks against its facilities and the enormous difficulties in receiving humanitarian supplies.
“It is quite obvious that the impact of conflict on health is catastrophic”Tedros told the 34-member WHO council. “In short, health needs have increased dramatically and the capacity of the health system has been reduced to a third of what it was,” he noted. He also maintained that, at the moment, it is impossible to deliver supplies, due to the fighting, and regretted that the UN Security Council could not agree to a ceasefire.
Respect the laws and minimize damage
“Health workers are physically and mentally exhausted, doing everything in their power in unimaginable situations,” said Tedros, who highlighted that among the 134 UN professionals killed in the conflict there is at least one WHO employee, Dima Abdullatif Mohammed Alhaj, 29 years old. “A ceasefire would be the only way to genuinely protect health in Gaza”stated the official, who added that “there will be no health without peace and no peace without health.”
Tedros also noted that there were worrying signs of epidemic diseases and that the risk was expected to worsen with the deterioration of the situation and the arrival of winter. After the director general, the Palestinian Minister of Health, Mai al Kaila, intervened in the session by videoconference, who stressed that in the besieged Gaza more than 129,000 cases of respiratory diseases and 55,000 of dermatological ailments derived from overcrowding and lack of hygiene have been diagnosed. .
“The urgency of the situation is undeniable and we ask humanitarian organizations to adopt concrete measures to stop the effects of this war and prevent the suffering of the Gazan population from being prolonged,” said the minister. “We recognize the suffering in Gaza, but let there be no room for error, Hamas is responsible for this,” said Israel’s representative to the UN in Geneva, Eilon Shahar, who stated that Israel “respects the laws of war and tries to minimize harm to civilians.”
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