Update Gaza Humanitarian Situation WHO, UNICEF 05 March 2024

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.

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Update Gaza Humanitarian Situation WHO, UNICEF 05 March 2024

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