UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

27 June 2025

Hostilities in the Middle East

Rik Peeperkorn, Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory of the World Health Organization (WHO), said from Jerusalem that concerning the West Bank, WHO wished to stress that the health crisis was worsening, driven by the intensification of the military presence and operations, rising settler violence, repeated attacks on health care and severe access restrictions that continue to obstruct delivery of vital services. Insecurity and physical barriers affected access to health services. Of the 559 health facilities assessed by WHO in June, 71 health facilities, including 43 Ministry of Health facilities, faced partial accessibility due to insecurity. Physical barriers at the entrances of some villages and frequent and limited-hour checkpoint operations continued to obstruct access to health care for patients and ambulances.

As of mid-June 2025, WHO had documented 844 attacks on health care in the West Bank since October 2023, resulting in 31 deaths and 168 injuries. The attacks affected 65 health facilities, 24 mobile clinics and 567 ambulances. Sixty-five percent of the attacks occurred in the cities of Tulkarem, Jenin and Nablus. They included attacks on health infrastructure and ambulances, detention of health workers and patients, obstruction of their access to health facilities, use of force on health workers and militarised searches of ambulances and staff.

Another issue was the long-standing fiscal crisis faced by the Palestinian Authority, which impacted the health system and had been worsened by Israel's increasing holding of revenues meant for the occupied Palestinian territories. Of the 476 government health service delivery units assessed by WHO and partners in June, only 345 were fully functional, 112 were partially functional, nine were non-functional, and 1 had been destroyed. According to the Ministry of Health, 16% of the total essential medicines, 14% of medical consumables and 9% laboratory supplies were at zero stock-balance.

The primary constraints affecting functionality were staff shortages due to many health workers not receiving or partly receiving their salaries, and the lack of supplies. The price of essential medical supplies had increased. According to the Ministry of Health, 16% of the total essential medicines, 14% of medical consumables and 9% laboratory supplies were at zero stock-balance. Seven vaccines were completely depleted. These shortages stemmed from limited local market availability and an increase in the price of essential medical supplies, recurrent border closures, and increasing restrictions imposing limits on the importation of medical supplies and medicines.

The WHO was supporting the Ministry of Health with the procurement of essential medications and had pre-positioned supplies at key hospitals across the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, to cope with the current shortages of medicines. Specific equipment to respond to mass casualty incidents had been pre-positioned in seven key hospitals. WHO was also conducting community trauma management training for first aid responders in the affected communities to boost emergency preparedness, and allow them to provide timely care to those injured in case of delays to ambulance arrival due to access restrictions.

On 25 June, WHO delivered its first medical shipment into Gaza since 2 March - 9 trucks carrying essential medical supplies, 2000 units of blood, and 1500 units of plasma. The supplies were transported from Kerem Shalom, without any looting incident, despite the high-risk conditions along the route. These supplies would be distributed to priority hospitals in the coming days: the delivery of plasma was critical, as Gaza was about to run out, as needs were immense. Those medical supplies which were now safely delivered were only a drop in the ocean: so much more was needed, medical aid, medical supplies, essential assistance. There were other trucks waiting, including those from other United Nations agencies. There was a need for an immediate and unimpeded, sustained delivery of medical supplies into Gaza.

Speaking from Gaza, Luca Pigozzi, Emergency Medical Team Coordinator in Gaza for the World Health Organization, said the Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) were structured groups of medical professionals who deployed either nationally or internationally to respond to public health emergencies or humanitarian crises. In the Gaza response, under the coordination of WHO, more than 50 teams could be deployed. Since January 2024, the EMTs had provided three million health consultations and performed more than 40 thousand surgical interventions. One of the major challenges hampering their ability to perform medical care was the lack of medical supplies and equipment- more than 50% of medical stocks were depleted. What had been delivered over the last two days was only a drop in the ocean.

Another major challenge was safety and security: healthcare workers and ambulances were coming under attack more and more. The major hospitals had been under attack consistently since the beginning of the crisis, and had at times had to shut down all their services, with a lack of provision of all forms of health services. The EMTs had tried to fill these gaps.

Procedures for accessing the Gaza Strip were bureaucratic and difficult. There were denials of visas for international staff to access the Strip, including for EMTs. Many teams, including 1 000 foreign doctors and nurses, had been deployed, but this was not enough.

Responding to questions, Dr. Peeperkorn repeated that there had been 844 attacks on healthcare in the West Bank since October 2023, resulting in 31 deaths and 168 injuries. 33 trucks containing aid and supplies were ready to be driven into the Gaza Strip immediately, and more would be ready to go shortly. Everything related to infection control was an issue- there was a need for a constant flow of all forms of medical supplies. WHO hoped that there would soon be a ceasefire for Gaza. There was a huge lack of fuel in Gaza, and there was an absolute need to get new fuel in, as without it, everything stopped, including ICUs, and water. By mid-June, 93% of households faced water insecurity, leading to the spread of diseases. One out of twelve children had been admitted to hospital for acute malnutrition since the start of the year.

Dr. Pigozzi said the situation was extreme. 84% of mortalities prior to the war in Gaza were caused by the exacerbation of non-communicable diseases. The risks for the population to become sick and also to exacerbate their chronic conditions was ever more present. It was very important for people to have access to specialised care and to the special medical evacuation corridor.

Responding to further questions on what had changed in Israel’s attitude which meant that the trucks had been allowed to enter the Gaza Strip, and what were the speakers’ reaction to U.S. plans to inject USD 30 million into the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and the message that this sent, Dr. Peeperkorn said the aid blockade had been running for far too long, and it was only recently that parts of the United Nations had been allowed in. New routes had had to be planned- but there were way too few trucks coming into Gaza from all areas.

Regarding the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the United Nations had been very clear about this, and it had been discussed in many fora, and Dr. Peeperkorn said he did not wish to raise more issues. What he could say was that the United Nations had a system in place with its humanitarian partners, and it was proven that it worked, so the routes should be open to allow food and non-food items, including water and essential medicine allowed in. The United Nations had a plan, it worked, and it should be allowed to do its job, before the world saw desperate people, including desperate young men, trying to get food. Supplies must be brought to the many points in Gaza where they could be distributed to the people who needed it. WHO saw the really nasty results of the aid not being distributed properly, namely hundreds being injured and people dying when trying to access food. Between 27 of May and 22 June, almost 500 people died trying to get food at sites of distribution, with hundreds more injured, adding to the load on hospitals.

Dr. Pigozzi said there were almost 500 deaths following the aid distributions, and it was very important for the world to know. In terms of injuries, there were gunshot wounds, people were shot, and victims of blast injuries. It was very important to understand that providing high-quality medical care was very hard due to the high volume of patients.

Responding to a follow-up question on the GHF being unaffected by the suspension of aid and the unequal treatment, Dr. Peeperkorn said what was absolutely needed was to bring many more trucks in with food and non-food items, and WHO prayed this would be allowed to happen. There was news of a new obstruction, but it hoped this would be solved shortly. WHO had hoped the ceasefire between Israel and Iran would spill over to Gaza. There was a need for food, water, and medical supplies at scale, and the United Nations partners were ready to deliver these.

Christian Lindmeier, speaking for the World Health Organization, said colleagues from OCHA, WFP and others had all been repeating the same: people were starving, dying and sick in Gaza. They had been killed on the way to hospitals and in hospitals. They had been killed in the search for food. And in the meantime, there was food and medical help only minutes away across the border, waiting for weeks and months: just open the door, Mr. Lindmeier urged.

Responding to a question on whether WHO could access all areas in Gaza, or was only assigned certain areas, Dr. Pigozzi said WHO could reach all areas, but it was important to remember that the population redistributed following the hostilities and the evacuation orders: more than 80% of the Gaza Strip was under order of civilian evacuation. He repeated that movements across the Strip were very difficult because of security and safety constraints. WHO had access to the full Strip, but in a very unsafe manner and environment. Dr. Peeperkorn added that more than 2 million people were crammed into 80% of the land mass, and it had already been one of the most over-populated places in the world. WHO could not go to the militarized zones. A lot of requests for movement were denied.

Answering another question regarding a potential ceasefire, Dr. Peeperkorn said he had no hopes for a ceasefire to happen shortly for the Gaza Strip. There had been hopes for one after the ceasefire with Iran, but what was being seen was that there was some movement on trucks being allowed in, but this was again currently blocked, which was not good news. WHO had thought it was on the road to the situation being opened up. The market had to be flooded to bring prices down and ensure that the most vulnerable groups, such as female-led households and the handicapped, were reached, but this was not currently possible. WHO was working for the solution, and the solution began with a ceasefire.

Responding to a question, Dr. Peeperkorn said there was an issue on infant formula getting in, and WHO was supporting malnutrition treatment centres in several hospitals, although a number were not working any more. UNICEF and WHO had repeatedly raised the issue of specialised nutrition not being available.

On a question on the blocking of access to Gaza for EMTs, Dr. Peeperkorn said there was a trend to this effect over the last month, and people were always being denied access. A reason or explanation was never provided, but over the last couple of months specifically, health and emergency teams were more affected than the other sectors. Dr. Pigozzi noted that at the moment, the problem was not that the authorities were denying entire teams: only one partner organisation was not allowed into Gaza. The problem was that individuals were denied permission, which meant that teams were incomplete, causing a coordination problem. In the last months, from March, there was a 44% denial rate for individuals, which was very worrisome.

Announcements

Ms. Vellucci said at 5:30 p.m. today, Geneva time, António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, would speak to the press at the Security Council stakeout on the situation in the Middle East and Gaza and would take questions. The Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, would brief reporters on his recent travels to the Middle East immediately after, at 6 p.m. Geneva time. These briefings were available on UN Web TV.

Ms. Vellucci also said that the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J. Mohammed, would speak, together with Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), on the launch of the Secretary-General’s debt recommendations ahead of the Financing for Development Conference in Sevilla at 6.45 p.m. Geneva time.

Today, the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was reviewing the report on Botswana, and the Human Rights Committee was concluding the review of Chad.

Ms. Vellucci reminded journalists of the next Cine-ONU event, which would take place under the stars, and would show the documentary Hacking Hate, a gripping look at online hate speech and the challenges of regulating it, on Thursday, 3 July at the Domaine des Penthes in Pregny-Chambesy from 8 pm.

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