The WHO has long been sounding the alarm about the state of the health system since the war, the bloodiest ever experienced by the Gaza Strip, broke out, triggered by the attack, also the deadliest in Israeli history, by Hamas militants in southern areas of Israel on October 7.
The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) denounced yesterday Sunday the “decimation” of the health system in the Gaza Strip, which is suffering enormous destruction in the war, and repeated his call for an immediate ceasefire to be declared.
“The decimation of Gaza’s health system is a tragedy,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus via X (formerly Twitter).
The WHO has long been sounding the alarm about the state of the health system since the war, the bloodiest ever experienced by the Gaza Strip, broke out, triggered by the attack, also the deadliest in Israeli history, by Hamas militants in southern areas of Israel on October 7.
Members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, killed about 1,140 people that day, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli statements, and took about 250 hostages, more than 120 of whom who remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip.
The large-scale military operations launched by Israel since then, particularly the massive airstrikes, have claimed the lives of 20,424 people, the majority of them women and children, according to the Hamas health ministry in Gaza.
Last week, the WHO highlighted that there are no hospitals left in operation in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
After missions last week to two hospitals that suffered extensive damage in the north — As Shifa, Al Ahli — WHO officials described “unbearable” images: patients abandoned, even small children, as they can no longer even be offered care; not even food and water.
Many hospitals, although theoretically protected by international humanitarian law, have been repeatedly hit by Israeli shelling in the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the conflict.
Chahal, the Israeli military, complains that Hamas has dug underground tunnels under hospitals and is using medical facilities as command centers in the enclave. The Palestinian Islamist movement denies the accusation.
As of December 20, the WHO recorded 246 attacks against health facilities and ambulances in the Gaza Strip, resulting in 582 deaths and 748 injuries.
Source :Skai
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