UN agencies warn of rising deaths due to storms in Gaza

GENEVA, Dec 12 (KUNA) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday of the rising number of deaths due to the drop in temperatures and winter storms hitting the Gaza Strip.
This came during a joint press briefing in Geneva held by the WHO Representative in the occupied Palestinian Territory Rick Pepperkorn and UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires where they warned about the worsening humanitarian situation especially amid the "near total collapse" of health services and the continuing restrictions imposed by the occupation forces on humanitarian aid.
Pepperkorn confirmed the death of ten people in the last 24 hours because of the cold.
He added that Gaza is witnessing acute respiratory infections, including influenza as well as hepatitis and diarrheal diseases all of which are spreading amid "winter conditions combined with poor water and sanitation".
He warned that these illnesses are rising in the wintertime with especially under-five under poor shelter conditions.
Pepperkorn stated that the Early Warning and Alert Response System established by WHO on 24 January has reported "1.47 million cases of acute respiratory infections and over 670.000 cases of acute diarrheal diseases." He stressed that diagnostics and testing in Gaza remain "severely limited due to lab reagents being denied entry" and described Israeli occupation's repeated refusal to allow testing equipment as "unjustified." He also confirmed that "379 Palestinians have been killed and 992 injured since the ceasefire" in addition to "627 bodies retrieved from under the rubble." Pepperkorn noted that the total death toll has now "exceeded 70.000" and the number of injured has "over 171.000." For his part, Pires warned that "800.000 Gazans are at risk from flooding many of them children".
He described "the situation for children is extremely dire emphasizing that children have been "pushed beyond human limits." Pires also confirmed reports of "two babies or under-five who died from hypothermia this week" noting that the same occurred last year.
"Clearly we haven't learned our lessons in terms of how to get aid in quicker and prevent deaths of children due to winter," he stressed.
Pires also criticized the continuing Israeli occupation`s restrictions on humanitarian access stressing that essential items that are still stuck outside Gaza awaiting for approval.
He added that these supplies are urgently needed as storms and floods "continue to affect nearly every person in Gaza" calling to open more humanitarian crossings to protect children. (end) imk.hm