Geneva, February 21 (RHC)-- The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised the alarm over the “inhumane” humanitarian situation in Gaza, which continues to deteriorate as Israel’s bombs keep falling on the besieged territory.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for an immediate halt to the regime’s war in the densely populated strip and demanded unhindered access to international aid. "Gaza has become a death zone. Much of the territory has been destroyed,” Ghebreyesus said.
Tedros said: “What type of world do we live in when people cannot get food and water, or where people who cannot even walk are not able to receive care?" The head of the UN health agency also criticized the israeli regime’s military forces for bombing hospitals and medical facilities.
"What type of world do we live in when hospitals must close because there is no more power or medicines to help save patients, and they are being targeted by military forces?"
Tedros also expressed concern about severe malnutrition among the people of Gaza which “has shot up dramatically since the war started, from under one percent to more than 15 percent in some areas, putting more lives at risk.” "This figure will rise the longer the war goes on and supplies are interrupted,” he warned.
"We need a ceasefire now,” Tedros said. “We need hostages to be released. We need the bombs to stop dropping and we need unfettered humanitarian access. Humanity must prevail.”
In northern Gaza, the situation is even worse, as the area has been almost completely cut off from aid for weeks. Tedros said the UN health agency “notes with apprehension that the World Food Program cannot get into northern Gaza with supplies."
One in six children under age two — 15.6 percent — are acutely malnourished in northern Gaza, according to nutrition screenings conducted at shelters and health centers in January. Of these, almost three percent suffer from severe wasting — the most life-threatening form of malnutrition.
The health condition puts children at the highest risk of medical complications and death unless they receive urgent treatment. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Monday that the Gaza Strip “is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths.”
