Fewer than half of Gaza’s hospitals and under 38 per cent of primary healthcare centres are partially functioning – or are doing so at minimal levels – said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the West Bank and Gaza. Bed occupancy in major facilities is exceeding limits...
The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, UN officials warned on Monday, describing overflowing hospitals, critically malnourished children, and desperate civilians risking their lives to secure food for their families....
Meanwhile, UN agencies confirmed the deaths of three Palestinians from Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), a rare auto-immune disease that can cause sudden muscle weakness and even paralysis. Before war erupted in Gaza in October 2023, only a handful of cases surfaced every year. Mass casualties now the norm “Hospitals are overwhelmed...
Briefing reporters in Geneva, UN human rights office, OHCHR, spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani highlighted “credible” reports of “widespread violations and abuses, including summary executions and arbitrary killings, kidnappings, destruction of private property and looting of homes” in the city of Suweida. “Among the reported perpetrators were members of the security forces...
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Thursday that food supplies are running dangerously low, as water and electricity outages exacerbate the crisis. The seizure and closure of Goma’s airport by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels has further interfered with aid delivery, while the blocking of roads and lake transport restrictions have...
A stark example of this escalation was highlighted by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who confirmed that the Kamal Adwan hospital in North Gaza is now out of service. On 27 December, the facility was raided, its patients and staff were forcibly evacuated, and...
In a Security Council meeting on Friday, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) representative for the West Bank and Gaza, painted a grim picture of the situation, emphasising that over 25 per cent of the 105,000 injured civilians now face life-changing injuries. “At the current rate, it would take five...
William O’Neill, who reports to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, highlighted an attack on the Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-au-Prince on 17 December and the killing of several journalists and a police officer at the General Hospital on 24 December. The victims were attending the hospital’s official reopening....
Amid new reports of intensified bombing and clashes across the Strip on Wednesday, OCHA said that requests had been denied five times since 26 December to reach the Central Drug Store in Gaza city and Al Awda Hospital in Jabalya, further north. “At the same time, the continued denial of...
Teams that undertook the high-risk missions witnessed intense hostilities in their vicinity, as well as high patient loads and overcrowding caused by people seeking refuge. They also reported that food needs remain dire across the enclave, which is impacting operations, with hungry people stopping convoys in hopes of finding something...
“What we do know is that the health system is on its knees,” said Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, World Health Organization Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in the wake of Hamas militants’ terror attack on Israel on 7 October that left 1,200 dead and the heavy bombardment of the enclave by the Israeli military in response. ...
Her comments came amid reports on Wednesday morning of an ongoing Israeli Defense Forces raid inside Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital, where patients including premature babies have died over the course of the past days after incubators and other life-saving equipment lost power. “Hospitals are not battlegrounds,” UN relief chief Martin...