United Nations has revealed that since the October 7 attack that resulted into conflict in Gaza, more than 400,000 cases of infectious diseases have been reported with some 180,000 people suffering from upper respiratory infections.
This was disclosed by the UN Spokesman during the Press Briefing on Wednesday at the Headquarter in New York, adding that there also have been more than 136,000 cases of diarrhoea reported which half are among children under the age of 5.
Giving update on the present situation in Gaza, the Spokesman stated that a team from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Health Organization visited a hospital after it was struck, reportedly killing five people, including a 5-day-old child.
According to him, “A training centre run by the Palestine Red Crescent Society within the Al Amal hospital was also severely damaged. During their mission, OCHA and WHO staff witnessed extensive damage and displacement of civilians.
“Some 14,000 internally displaced people were sheltering at the hospital when it was hit. WHO says many have now left, and those who remain are terrified for their safety and planning to relocate”.
He made it known that the OCHA warned that Gaza is a public health disaster in the making, and recent mass displacement across southern Gaza is fuelling disease outbreaks.
The UN Spokesman pointed out that Humanitarian partners continue to address the critical lack of hygiene and safe drinking water in Gaza, despite ongoing challenges to response efforts.
“Since October, some 1.4 million people in Gaza have been reached at least once with some water and sanitation assistance. This includes the distribution of more than 120,000 cubic metres of water.
“Nearly 140 sanitation units have also been installed or rehabilitated at shelters for internally displaced people. Our humanitarian partners are also providing health care at shelters with the help of 150 medical teams”.
He said, “Work continues to expand access to primary health-care services by increasing number of medical points serving internally displaced people as less than half of the 325 designated shelters have them.
“Meanwhile, the UN and our humanitarian partners have been unable to deliver urgently needed life-saving humanitarian assistance north of Wadi Gaza for three days due to access delays and denials, as well as active conflict.
“This includes medicines that would have provided vital support to more than 100,000 people for 30 days, as well as eight trucks of food for people who currently face catastrophic and life-threatening food insecurity.
“Humanitarian organizations are calling for urgent, safe, sustained and unhindered humanitarian access to areas north of Wadi Gaza, which has been severed from the south for more than a month”, the UN Spokesman said.
WHO said in its official social media platforms on Wednesday that despite ongoing challenges, in the last 3 days in Gaza 13 trucks delivered crucial medical supplies for surgeries and anaesthesia via the Rafah crossing.
“Our team is at the WHO Rafah warehouse today, getting the supplies ready for onward delivery to Nasser Medical Complex, Al-Aqsa, Awda Nuseirat, and European Gaza hospitals in southern Gaza, benefiting 142k patients. We will need unimpeded access for these life-saving items to reach their final destinations”.
