WHO chief: Health situation in Gaza still catastrophic

GENEVA, Oct 23 (KUNA) -- Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Thursday of the continuation of the humanitarian and health crisis in the Gaza Strip despite the ongoing "fragile"ceasefire stressing that the "needs remain immense" amidst limited aid access.
Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, Ghebreyesus warned that a lack of sufficient aid entering Gaza has resulted in no improvement in hunger levels. He highlighted the immediate threat to children's lives from famine and disease adding that over 600.000 people in Gaza are currently experiencing catastrophic food insecurity.
He reported that the aid reaching Gaza remains insufficient with the "daily number of trucks ranging between 200 and 300 only compared to the set target of 600 trucks daily" explaining that a "large number of these trucks are commercial which many residents cannot benefit from due to their inability to purchase." He denounced the continued violations of the ceasefire while WHO has recorded 89 new deaths and 317 new injuries since the announcement of the ceasefire according to data from health authorities in the Gaza Strip.
Ghebreyesus criticized Israeli occupation forces for severely limiting patient evacuations which he argued could have made a significant difference. He said that the Israeli part are allowing only one operation per week and halting evacuations for two weeks during holidays. Ghebreyesus called for the opening of the Rafah crossing and all closed crossings to allow the transfer of patients and expand humanitarian aid delivery. He announced that the organization was able to conduct the first medical evacuation operation out of the Strip since the ceasefire noting that 15.000 other patients and injured individuals including 4.000 children are in need of treatment outside Gaza.
He warned of the risk of death for many patients and injured due to the disruption of evacuation operations especially with over 700 people having died while awaiting medical evacuation calling on countries to receive more patients and injured people and Israeli occupation authorities to allow medical evacuation to East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
He added that over 170.000 people have been injured in Gaza since the start of the aggression including more that 42.000 others suffering from life-changing injuries. Additionally nearly 4.000 women give birth every month in unsafe conditions with no fully functioning hospital in the Strip due to the destruction and a severe shortage of medicines equipment and health workers.
He stated that the full reconstruction of Gaza's health system is estimated to cost at least seven billion dollars noting that the WHO immediately announced a 60-day health response plan for Gaza valued at 45 million dollars. (end) imk.rk