2023-12-04 23:33:51
In a post on the X social media platform, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Israel to withdraw the order “and take all possible measures to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and humanitarian facilities.”
The Coordination Unit of Government Activities in the Territories, a branch of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, denied in a statement that it had asked the World Health Organization to evacuate warehouses, and said that it had clarified this to representatives of the United Nations.
The Office for the Coordination of Israeli Government Activities in the Palestinian Territories (COGAT) of the Israeli Ministry of Defense said in a post on the X platform (formerly Twitter): “The truth is that we did not ask you to evacuate the warehouses, and we said that, clearly and also in writing, to the relevant United Nations officials.”
For her part, Shannon Barclay from the World Health Organization team in the occupied Palestinian territories said in a press conference that the organization’s employees in Gaza were able to “complete part of the process of evacuating the warehouse to a new facility.”
Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, warned at the press conference that Israel’s intensification of military ground operations in southern Gaza, especially in Khan Yunis, will likely prevent thousands from obtaining health care.
World Health Organization officials said they were concerned regarding widespread disease outbreaks given the lack of access to clean water as well as sanitation for many Gazans.
Al-Mandhari stated that the World Health Organization has observed an increase in the spread of infectious diseases in Gaza, such as acute respiratory infections, scabies, jaundice, diarrhea, and bloody diarrhea.
Dr. Richard Brennan of the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean said health officials are also concerned regarding hepatitis E, which can be transmitted from person to person through contaminated water and poses a particular risk to pregnant women.
Brennan added that the health sector in Gaza has witnessed a “tremendous deterioration,” with 18 hospitals currently operating, compared to 36 hospitals before the war. Those hospitals that are open are operating far below capacity.
“So our ability to meet needs is declining, just as those needs are increasing,” he said.
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