WHO warns healthcare in Gaza in ‘apocalyptic’ state

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that healthcare conditions for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated to an “apocalyptic” state.

Disease and food insecurity are spreading at rapid rates and healthcare workers are increasingly constrained by Israeli attacks, WHO officials said on Monday.

Hanan Balkhy, the WHO’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said the UN organization transferred 93 critical patients and 103 of their companions from Gaza to the United Arab Emirates and Romania last week in its biggest medical evacuation since October 2023.

Balkhy said WHO personnel had also delivered supplies to northern Gaza under heavy Israeli bombardent.

“I reiterate,” she said, “there is truly no safe place in Gaza.”

WHO officials also underscored the importance of the continued operations of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), saying, “Our work would not be possible without them.”

Earlier this month, the Israeli regime terminated the decades-old agreement with the UN, allowing the refugee agency to do its humanitarian and relief operations in the occupied Palestinian land.

The WHO’s representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Peeperkorn, said food in southern Gaza has become scarcer, more expensive and less diverse in recent weeks, and called the situation in northern Gaza “dramatic.”

International organizations have condemned Israeli attacks against facilities set up for humanitarian aid agencies and healthcare workers in Gaza.

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Lebanese centers forced to close

The WHO’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean also said health facilities in neighboring Lebanon have also come under “ruthless attack” by the Israeli regime forces.

Healthcare facilities in Lebanon have been attacked 103 times since last October, Balkhy said.

At least 17 hospitals have stopped operating or cut back on operations, and in areas of active hostilities, an estimated 127 primary healthcare centers and medical dispensaries have been forced to close, the WHO official said.

The Israeli forces said on Monday that they had struck “military” locations, claiming they were “not aware of any harm to uninvolved civilians.”

"Nine hospitals have been forced to close due to Israeli attacks since 23 September," according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. “Others are out of service because they are located in unsafe areas”.

The ministry said earlier this month that hundreds of health and emergency services workers had been killed and injured in Israeli attacks till now.

"The doctors and nursing staff are working beyond their normal capacity", said Health Minister Abiad. "There are no doctors leaving yet, but will it last? We will be able to hold out for a little while longer, but if it goes on for more than two or three months, we will need something else" to survive the relentless Israeli attacks.

The Lebanese Health Ministry says the death toll from Israeli onslaught on Lebanon nears 3,200 people with more than 14,000 injured since October 2023.

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