New York: Gaza’s health system is on the verge of complete collapse. The World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergency Officer, Sean Casey, issued a dire warning after a five-week visit to the conflict-ridden enclave. Hospitals in Gaza, especially in the north, are struggling, with only around 16 out of 36 partially functioning. Casey emphasized the urgency of a ceasefire.
Sean Casey, WHO Health Emergency Officer, raised alarms about the collapsing health system in Gaza after a five-week visit, revealing that only around 16 out of 36 hospitals in the region are “minimally or partially functioning.” He highlighted the challenges faced during attempts to deliver fuel and supplies to Gaza City, where daily requests for coordinated movement were denied for seven consecutive days.
During his visit to Gaza, Casey toured six hospitals, including Al-Shifa in Gaza City and Al-Ahli Hospital in the north. He described Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, with more than 700 beds, as an emergency room filled with severely injured patients and minimal medical staff. Additionally, tens of thousands of displaced persons are living in operating theatres, corridors, and staircases.
At Al-Ahli Hospital he saw patients “lying on church pews, basically waiting to die, in a hospital that had no fuel, no power, no water; very, very little in the way of medical supplies and only a handful of staff remaining to take care of them.”
Casey witnessed the dire conditions in hospitals, with severely injured patients waiting for care, sometimes asking for food or water. “I saw patients in hospitals every day with severe burns, with open fractures, waiting hours or days for care, and they would often ask me for food or water. It demonstrates the level of desperation that we see,” said Casey.
Israeli attacks have claimed the lives of 337 healthcare workers. With the recent attack on Nasser Hospital in Southern Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians are seeking shelter, Doctors Without Borders say Israel is attacking the areas of the hospital without prior warning. As of Thursday, the World Health Organization reports 645 Israeli attacks on the healthcare infrastructure in Palestinian territories, including attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and vehicles transporting supplies, which have led to 619 deaths and 835 people being injured.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry over 350,000 individuals with chronic illnesses are now deprived of access to medications, posing a potential risk of severe health complications
As per UNICEF, the current daily cases of diarrhea among children have surged to nearly 3,200 cases, marking a 2,000 percent since the start of the war.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that 70 percent of healthcare professionals have been forced to flee due to the violence, occurring at a time when there is an escalating demand for their essential services.
Israel’s war on Gaza has displaced nearly 85% of the population, making it difficult for health professionals to commute to work. Casey stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire, stating, “Everything short of that is simply addressing needs on a day-by-day basis.”
Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, emphasized the need for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire during his fourth visit to Gaza. He described the desperate situation around Rafah, where the population has almost quadrupled, and makeshift shelters house over 20 people. Lazzarini highlighted the scarcity of commercial goods allowed into Gaza, causing a tenfold increase in commodity prices and leaving chronically ill people without sufficient medicine.
Access to northern Gaza remains highly restricted, impacting UNRWA convoys and aid trucks, which are not being allowed to deliver the aid. Lazzarini called for a ceasefire to increase the flow of basic supplies, emphasizing that “anything short of this will prolong the misery of an entire population.” Both Casey and Lazzarini stressed the urgent need for international intervention to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
It is noteworthy that since the beginning of Israeli aggression in Gaza on October 7, the Israeli attacks have resulted in the deaths of over 24,20, including over 10,400 children and 7,100 women, and 61,830 Palestinians have been severely injured, and more than 8,000 Palestinians have been missing under the rubble since October 7, presumably dead. According to UNICEF, more than 10 children a day lose one or both legs in Gaza due to Israeli attacks.
During the last 24 hours, the Israeli Occupying Army killed 172 Palestinians and wounded 326 others.
Furthermore, 70% of the infrastructure in Gaza has been either completely destroyed or damaged in Israeli attacks. According to the United Nations, relentless Israeli attacks in Gaza have led to the largest displacement of Palestinians since 1948, leaving over 2 million people, or 85% of the population of the Gaza Strip, displaced out of its total population of 2.3 million. The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths has said that “Gaza has simply become uninhabitable”.
Israel has also consistently and systematically attacked journalists and media workers, killing at least 117 journalists since the start of its war in Gaza. The former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid recently made a statement regarding reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said:
“My argument is that the media cannot just claim to bring both sides of the story. If you do that, you are only bringing one – Hamas’s side,” he said
Additionally, according to the UN more than 152 United Nations staff members have been killed since October 7.
Meanwhile, in the Occupied West Bank, at least 367 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupying forces and settlers, while more than 4,000 have been injured and 6,090 have been detained including women and children.
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