Recent access by the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners to hospitals in northern Gaza has starkly revealed severe levels of malnutrition for Palestinians, children dying of starvation, serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies, and hospital buildings destroyed.
“We gained access to the north again. … Most of our missions to the north were denied in late January, only three out of 16 were facilitated, in February zero were actually facilitated, and all due to a lack of a proper deconfliction mechanism,” said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory when briefing reporters at the UN in Geneva.
He noted that their last mission to Al Shifa hospital in northern Gaza was on 22nd of January and that access was granted more recently to other facilities.
“On the 3rd of March, just last weekend, WHO and partners were able to reach Kamal Adwan which is further north, and Al-Awda hospital in northern Gaza. That was the first mission (…) to those hospitals since early October 2023, despite of our many efforts to gain more regular access to the northern Gaza.”
WHO and partners managed to deliver 9,500 litres of fuel to each hospital, and some essential medical supplies - a small fraction of the urgent lifesaving supplies needed. The situation at Al-Awda Hospital is particularly appalling, Dr. Peeperkorn said, as one of the buildings is destroyed. Kamal Adwan Hospital, the only pediatrics hospital in the north of Gaza, is overwhelmed with patients. The lack of electricity poses a serious threat to patient care, especially in critical areas like the intensive care unit and the neonatal unit.
UNICEF spokesperson James Elder addressed the dire consequences for children in these facilities, with many more remaining unaccounted for. “At least ten children have reportedly died because of dehydration and malnutrition in Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, likely many more children fighting for their lives. These deaths are manmade, predictable and entirely preventable.” Many more youngsters will likely die in the coming days unless aid is ramped up without delay, UNICEF warned.
Malnutrition has become an increasingly dire threat in Gaza, particularly among young children, leading to irreversible wasting. Previously, Gaza's self-sufficiency in fish and other food production provided a buffer against such dangers, said Dr. Peeperkorn.“What we see specifically in northern Gaza, 15.6% wasting among children under two (years of age) in northern Gaza. It suggests a serious and rapid decline,” he said. “Such a decline in the population's nutritional status in three months is actually unprecedented globally. Specifically, when you look at what it was before, you talk about 0.7 or 0.8% of children under five are acutely malnourished.”
According to Dr. Peeperkorn, only 12 hospitals are now partially functional - six in the north and six in the south. Twentythree hospitals are not functional at all. Given these dire circumstances, Dr Peeperkorn said that WHO is advocating for a significant ramp up of medical evacuation. “We estimate that 8000 patients should be referred out of Gaza, 6000 related to the war traumas and 2000 general patients.”
Between 7 October and 20 February only 2,203 people have had access to medical treatment outside of Gaza, in spite of offers from Egypt and other countries, including in Europe, to receive and treat a greater number of patients from the battered Gaza health facilities.
-ends-
STORY: Update Gaza Humanitarian situation-WHO, UNICEF
TRT: 2:14”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 5 March 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza, are unconscionable. For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured,” Jeremy Laurence UN Human Rights spokesperson said at the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
Gaza ‘hungriest place on earth’ with aid stymied – UN humanitarians
Starving Gazans continue to be deprived of aid as international relief efforts are being severely constrained by the Israeli authorities, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNRWA
As a controversial United States and Israel-backed aid distribution plan gets underway in Gaza, the UN called on Tuesday for an “immediate surge” of its own pre-positioned supplies to help prevent starvation.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani today urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to reject a bill that was recently endorsed by parliament allowing trials of civilians in military courts. The Uganda People’s Defence Forces Amendment Bill 2025, which was passed on 20 May and now awaits presidential signature to become law, among others broadens the jurisdiction of military courts, authorising them to try a wide range of offences against civilians.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today warned of a further deterioration in the human rights situation in South Sudan at the bi-weekly briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Syria: ‘Staggering’ needs amid insecurity, health care crisis - UN humanitarians
Millions of people in Syria continue to face mortal danger from unexploded munitions, disease and malnutrition and urgent support is required, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO
UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount
Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday, But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.
1
1
1
Edited News
A war reporter from Lebanon who lost a limb in the line of duty is calling for an end to impunity for attacks against journalists.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) commemorated 160 years dedicated to connecting the world on Saturday, 17 May in Geneva, Switzerland, during the annual World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OCHA
Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege
Amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza into Friday killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas and pleaded for the blockade to end.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Deportations over recent months of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States of America, especially to countries other than those of their origin, raise a number of human rights concerns, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Over 50 child malnutrition deaths amid aid blockade; entire generation will be ‘permanently affected’ - WHO
In the aid desert of Gaza, malnourished children are dying while survivors can expect a lifetime of dire health problems, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.