Members of the World Health Organization’s relief mission have been able to visit northern Gaza for the first time since the start of Israel’s offensive on Gaza in October.
Members of the World Health Organization’s relief mission visited two hospitals in Gaza and saw the brutal conditions. The members of the mission said that the children are dying because of lack of food. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said children in northern Gaza are dying of starvation.
Tedros said the agency visited al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in Gaza on Sunday and saw “brutal conditions”. It was the first time they had been able to visit Gaza since Israel began its offensive in October.
Tedros said, “We have tried to make regular visits to northern Gaza, but this initiative has not been successful.” In a post on social media, he highlighted what he saw during the visit, writing that 10 children had died due to lack of food and there was ‘severe malnutrition’. Hospital buildings were destroyed.
He said in a post on social media X that the staff of the organization faced a ‘terrible’ situation, and the situation at Al-Awda (hospital) was particularly worrying. Because a building has been destroyed there. Tedros said medical workers were struggling to cope with the influx of patients at Kamal Adwan, the only children’s hospital in northern Gaza.
Incidentally, the Ministry of Health of Gaza said that at least 16 children died due to malnutrition in the relief-deprived northern Gaza. The UN warned last week that famine in the Gaza Strip is “almost inevitable” amid the hostile environment created by the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel.
In addition to the dire food shortage in two hospitals in northern Gaza, Tedros also warned that the lack of uninterrupted power supply is hampering the treatment of patients in hospitals. Especially in pediatric and adult intensive care units, the lives of patients are at risk due to constant power outages.
The WHO chief also said that in this mission at the end of the week, the World Health Organization gave 9,500 liters of fuel oil and some emergency medical supplies to both hospitals. However, he also mentioned that ‘the materials needed to save everyone’s life are only a small part of it’.
Calling for “safe and regular delivery of humanitarian aid” to Israel, he said large-scale aid was needed for civilians, especially children and health care workers. The greatest medicine for all the patients of Gaza is peace and cease-fire.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry said at least 97 Palestinians were killed and 123 injured in the past 24 hours. Al Jazeera’s camera captured the video of Israeli forces firing on Palestinians who were waiting for help at the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City. This is the second time that the barbaric Israeli forces have done this.
According to reports, at least eight people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the home of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.
And at least 30 thousand 631 Palestinians were killed and 72 thousand 43 were injured in the Israeli attack on Gaza since October 7. On the other hand, the revised death toll from Hamas attacks in Israel has reached 1,139.
