Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the halt in hostilities however mentioned “the disaster is much from over and the wants are immense.”
He highlighted the toll of months of battle: greater than 170,000 individuals injured –together with 5,000 amputees and three,600 individuals with extreme burns. No less than 42,000 require long-term rehabilitation, and 4,000 ladies give delivery every month “in unsafe situations.”
Psychological wounds
“The destruction has been bodily but additionally psychological,” he mentioned. “An estimated a million individuals want entry to psychological well being care.”
Tedros described a system on the point of collapse. “There aren’t any totally functioning hospitals in Gaza, and solely 14 out of 36 are functioning in any respect,” he mentioned, citing “vital shortages of important medicines, tools and well being staff.”
Because the ceasefire took impact two weeks in the past, WHO groups have scaled up help, sending medical provides to hospitals, deploying emergency medical groups, and facilitating evacuations.
“Yesterday, we supported the evacuation of 41 sufferers and 145 companions to a number of nations,” Tedros mentioned, thanking over 20 nations which have acquired evacuees.
700 useless ready for evacuation
However with 15,000 sufferers nonetheless in want of remedy exterior Gaza – together with 4,000 kids – he careworn that “greater than 700 have died whereas ready for evacuation.”
He urged the reopening of the Rafah crossing and the restoration of medical referrals to the occupied West Financial institution, together with East Jerusalem, to allow pressing care and develop support supply.
“Though the stream of support has elevated, it’s nonetheless solely a fraction of what’s wanted,” Tedros mentioned, noting that “a big quantity of support has constructed up at Al-Arish in Egypt” awaiting the reopening of Rafah on the southern tip of the enclave.
The UN’s 60-day ceasefire plan seeks $45 million to take care of important well being providersstrengthen illness prevention and early warning techniques, coordinate well being companions and help reconstruction.
Rebuilding Gaza’s well being system, nonetheless, will value “a minimum of $7 billion,” he mentioned. “WHO was in Gaza earlier than the warfare began, we’ve got been there all through, and we’ll keep there to assist the individuals of Gaza construct a more healthy, safer and fairer future.”
Help and entry
In New York, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq mentioned the UN and companions are stepping up aid efforts. A UN staff lately reached Gaza Metropolis’s Az Zaitoun neighbourhood – inaccessible earlier than the ceasefire – the place greater than 200 returning households reside in “extraordinarily poor” situations.
Residents stroll as much as two kilometres to achieve the closest water level and urgently want meals, clear water, hygiene gadgets and money help for winter necessities.
In the meantime, UN companies proceed to ship very important support. The World Meals Programme (WFP) is distributing fortified snacks to schoolchildren, whereas greater than 140 vans of meals, hygiene kits and emergency shelter gadgets entered Gaza earlier this week.
Youngsters’s company UNICEF has delivered 20 vans of child diapers, and disaster operations hub UNOPS distributed practically 160,000 litres of gasoline for humanitarian operations.
“The ceasefire provides a lifeline,” mentioned Tedros, “however Gaza’s well being system – and its individuals – are nonetheless preventing for survival.”
