World Health Organization: Gaza’s Health System in Ruin
HAVANA TIMES – The health system in the Gaza Strip remains in ruins amid the fragile ceasefire, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated on October 23. Hundreds of thousands of people there still face urgent medical and humanitarian needs.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, a specialized UN agency based in the Swiss city of Geneva, welcomed the cessation of hostilities between Israel and the Islamist militia Hamas. However, he stressed that “the crisis is far from over and the needs are immense.”
He emphasized the toll of two years of conflict, in which more than 68,000 inhabitants of that Palestinian territory have died. More than 170,000 people have been injured, including 5,000 amputees and 3,600 with severe burns. At least 42,000 people require long-term rehabilitation, and 4,000 women give birth each month in unsafe conditions.
“The destruction has been physical, but also psychological. An estimated one million people—about half the population of the Strip—need access to mental health care,” added the WHO official.
He described a system on the brink of collapse: “There are no fully functioning hospitals in Gaza, and only 14 out of 36 are operating,” amid “a severe shortage of essential medicines, equipment, and health personnel.”
Since the ceasefire came into effect two weeks ago, WHO teams have stepped up their support, sending medical supplies to hospitals, deploying emergency medical teams, and facilitating evacuations. “Yesterday we supported the evacuation of 41 patients and 145 support people to several countries,” Tedros said, thanking more than 20 nations that have received the evacuees.
But 15,000 patients still need treatment outside Gaza, including 4,000 children Meanwhile, “more than 700 have died while waiting for evacuation,” Tedros pointed out.
He urged the reopening of the Rafah crossing, on the border with Egypt in the south of the 141-square-mile Gaza Strip, and the restoration of medical referrals to the occupied West Bank (east of Israel), including East Jerusalem, to allow for urgent care and expand aid delivery.
“Although the flow of aid has increased, it is still only a fraction of what is needed,” Tedros stated, noting that “a significant amount of aid has accumulated in Al-Arish, Egypt” awaiting the reopening of Rafah.
The UN’s 60-day ceasefire plan seeks $45 million to maintain essential health services, strengthen disease prevention and early warning systems, coordinate health partners, and support reconstruction.
However, rebuilding Gaza’s health system will cost at least $7 billion, according to Tedros.
“The WHO was in Gaza before the war started, we have been there throughout the process, and we will remain there to help the people of Gaza build a healthier, safer, and fairer future,” Tedros promised.
Speaking at the United Nations in New York, Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, affirmed that the UN and its partners are stepping up relief efforts.
A UN team recently arrived in the Az Zaitoun neighborhood of Gaza City—inaccessible before the ceasefire—where more than 200 returning families are living in extreme poverty. Residents there must walk more than a mile to reach the nearest source of water and urgently need food, drinking water, hygiene items, and cash assistance for essential winter items.
Meanwhile, UN agencies assert that they are continuing to deliver vital aid. The World Food Program (WFP) is distributing fortified snacks to school-age children, while more than 140 trucks carrying food, hygiene kits, and emergency shelter items entered Gaza earlier this week.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has delivered 20 trucks of baby diapers, and the UNOPS crisis operations center distributed nearly 160,000 liters of fuel for humanitarian operations.
“The ceasefire offers a lifeline,” Tedros reiterated, “but Gaza’s health system and its people are still struggling to survive.”
First published in Spanish by IPS news and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.