Disease could kill more people in Gaza than bombs: WHO amid ongoing Israeli siege
PTC News Desk: Diseases put at risk more lives in Gaza than bombings, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), according to Al Jazeera.
Since Israel began strikes on October 7, Gaza's critical infrastructure has suffered greatly due to fuel and supply shortages, as well as targeted attacks on hospitals and UN facilities.
"Eventually we will see more people dying from disease than from bombardment if we are not able to put back together this health system," WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said.
According to Al Jazeera, Harris emphasized the possibility of more deaths from diseases than from bombings if the health system is not rebuilt.
She called the collapse of al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza a "tragedy," and expressed concern about the detention of medical personnel by Israeli forces who seized the complex.
Infectious disease outbreaks, particularly diarrheal diseases, are on the rise, exacerbated by a lack of medicines, vaccination programs, safe drinking water, hygiene, and food.
"There are no medicines, no vaccination activities, no access to safe water and hygiene and no food."
The main sanitation services in Gaza have been cut off, raising the risk of widespread gastrointestinal and infectious diseases such as cholera. With 2.3 million residents, half of whom are children, access to safe drinking water has become nearly impossible. The WHO has reported over 44,000 cases of diarrhoea and 70,000 cases of acute respiratory infections, but the true numbers could be higher.
The approaching winter season raises fears that rains and floods will exacerbate the already dire situation.
- ANI
