The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday against major shortages — of medicine, food, shelter, fuel — in the Gaza Strip, especially in its north, describing the “catastrophic” situation on the ground.

The Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, recalled that when the war broke out in the Gaza Strip more than a year ago, triggered by the deadly attack by Hamas in the southern part of the Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, almost all the forced evacuees had taken refuge in either public buildings or homes relatives.

“Now, 90% live in tents,” he added during a press conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva. This means displaced people are more “vulnerable to respiratory infections” and other diseases, while “cold, rain and floods will exacerbate food insecurity and malnutrition”.

The situation is described as even more desperate in the northern part of the enclave under Israeli siege. In this area there is a risk of famine, according to a UN assessment earlier this month.

WHO and partner agencies this week sent a three-day mission to the north. The team visited over ten health facilities.

Dr. Tedros said his team saw “a large number of wounded and an increasing number of patients with chronic diseases requiring treatment”.

It found a “critical shortage of absolutely necessary medicines”, he added.

The WHO is “doing everything it can — everything Israel allows (it) to do — to provide services and distribute materials,” he noted.

Rick Peppercorn, the WHO’s representative in the Palestinian Territories, said he hoped a mission planned for Saturday would be able to reach the only two hospitals still operating in the north, at least “at minimum” capacity, Kamal Antoine and Al Audah.

“Everything is needed,” he insisted. Hospitals are especially short of fuel. And “without fuel, any humanitarian operation is impossible.”

Mr. Peppercorn did report a positive development, however, as the WHO earlier this week facilitated the emergency medical evacuation of 17 patients from the Gaza Strip to Jordan. Of those, 12 are expected to be flown to the US for treatment.

They are among the nearly 300 patients allowed out of the enclave after Israel’s military closed the Gaza Strip’s main border crossing, that of Rafah, in early May, he noted.

But some 12,000 patients are waiting in Gaza to be allowed to leave for medical reasons, he added, calling for medical corridors to be opened to allow that to happen.