The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Monday that a staff’s trip to two hospitals in northern Gaza discovered terrible pictures of children dying of malnutrition amid severe food, fuel, and medicine shortages caused by the Israel-Hamas war.
WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus stated that the agency’s trips over the weekend to the Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals “were the first since early October 2023, despite our efforts to gain more regular access to the north of Gaza.”
In a statement on X, Ghebreyesus stated that “the situation at Al-Awda was particularly appalling, as one of the buildings was destroyed.”
He stated that Kamal Adwan Hospital, the only paediatric facility in northern Gaza, was overcrowded.
“The lack of food resulted in the deaths of 10 children,” the WHO chief noted.
The United Nations warned last week that starvation in the Gaza Strip was “almost inevitable” due to the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory since Hamas militants launched an unprecedented strike inside Israel on October 7.
In addition to the terrible dearth of food in the two northern hospitals, Tedros warned on X that “the lack of electricity poses a serious threat to patient care, especially in critical areas like the intensive care unit and the neonatal unit.”
During the weekend visit, the UN health agency donated 9,500 gallons of fuel to each hospital, as well as some basic medical supplies, he said.
“This is a fraction of the urgent lifesaving needs.”
The WHO chief renewed a call for Israel to “ensure humanitarian aid can be delivered safely and regularly.”
“Civilians, especially children, and health staff need scaled-up help immediately,” he said, stressing that “the key medicine all these patients need is peace. Ceasefire.”
