WHO Regional Director’s remarks at the regional press briefing on health emergencies (Gaza)

Thank you for joining us today for our regional update on the health emergencies in the occupied Palestinian territory and Sudan.

Before I begin my remarks, I’d like to take a moment to remember Dima Alhaj, our young WHO colleague who was tragically killed yesterday when her parents’ home was bombed. Dima’s husband, 6-month-old baby boy and more than 50 other family members who had been sheltering together were also killed in the bombing. Dima joined WHO in 2019 as part of the WHO-supported trauma team at the Gaza Strip’s Limb Reconstruction Centre. We are all devastated by this shocking news and extend our deepest condolences to Dima’s remaining family and to her friends and colleagues.

As we grieve the shocking loss of Dima and her family, we are reminded of the senseless nature of this conflict. We are reminded that in Gaza today, nowhere is safe for civilians, including our own colleagues and other members of the United Nations family. Civilians are losing their lives in their homes, in camps and shelters, in schools and even while receiving care in hospitals.

The death and maiming of innocent civilians, more than half of whom are women and children, must stop. They have done nothing to deserve the unimaginable hardships they are now being forced to endure. The bedrock principles of the laws of war, such as proportionality, distinction and precaution, are being flaunted by both sides.Health facilities, schools, family homes, and places of refuge have been attacked by both sides.We cannot allow the sense of our common humanity to be eroded any further.

While we are encouraged by the announcement overnight of a temporary ceasefire associated with hostage and prisoner release, what the peoples of the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel need is a sustained ceasefire.What we need is the leaders and fighting forces of both sides to put the health and welfare of their people first.

In the Gaza Strip today, people are being denied food, safe water, health care, shelter and protection. Almost three quarters of the Gaza Strip’s entire population has been internally displaced, often moving multiple times to escape active conflict.

Even hospitals – which should be the safest of havens – are not protected from these horrors. WHO has documented 178 attacks on health care in the Gaza Strip, which have resulted in 553 fatalities and 696 casualties, including 22 fatalities and 48 injuries of health workers on duty. The attacks have affected 44 health facilities, including 24 hospitals damaged, and affected 40 ambulances, including 32 which sustained damage.

As health facilities shut down due to conflict or lack of resources, our ability to provide health care to the population is plummeting, while the health needs are soaring. The choking of supply lines of medicines and medical supplies, lack of fuel and safe water, damage to infrastructure and loss of staff have forced the shutdown of 27 out of 36 hospitals, 2 specialty centres, and 47 out of 72 primary health care clinics in the Gaza Strip.

The few hospitals that remain open are only partially functional and are under massive strain, providing only limited emergency services, which leaves thousands of people without access to life-saving health care and vulnerable to preventable diseases. Premature babies are dying as life-support systems shut down. Cancer patients, those with kidney and cardiovascular diseases, and people with diabetes face massive risks due to interrupted treatments. Without access to safe water, safe disposal of sanitation and proper hygiene, people living in overcrowded settings are increasingly exposed to infectious diseases, and the risks of outbreaks is escalating.We are seeing increased rates of diarrhoea, respiratory infections, jaundice, skin infections and vaccine-preventable childhood diseases, including measles.

We have done everything we can to reach the people of the Gaza Strip with the life-saving health care they desperately need. But this political conflict requires a political solution. Deliveries of additional humanitarian aid need to be at much greater levels than they have been so far. Hospitals must be allowed to replenish the resources they need to continue functioning. And the fighting needs to stop so that we can quickly scale up our response inside Gaza without risk. We cannot keep providing drops of aid in an ocean of needs.

We urgently call – again – for an end to the conflict; for protection of health workers, patients and health facilities; for the unconditional release of hostages; and for unimpeded, sustained access for life-saving health aid into the Gaza Strip.

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