WHO calls for ceasefire in Gaza Strip, where health situation is “beyond imaginable”
The health system in the Gaza Strip is on its knees and cannot afford to lose a single more ambulance or hospital bed, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday, calling for establishment of a ceasefire ” NOW “. “The situation is becoming more and more terrible by the day… literally beyond imaginable”declared WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier to the press in Geneva.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) clarified on Thursday evening that only fourteen of the thirty-six hospitals in the Gaza Strip were still functioning as best they could.
“Children and other people begging and crying for [avoir de] water, we are here, at a stage where the most common, most basic supplies are no longer accessible”, underlined Mr. Lindmeier. The estimate of current water availability in Gaza is “one or two liters of fresh water per day, for all purposes, not just for drinking”he said.
The residents have “started cutting down telephone poles to get some wood for heating or maybe cooking, assuming they had enough”he worried. “Civilization is on the verge of collapse”warned Mr. Lindmeier.
According to the WHO spokesperson, a convoy was planned to transport medical supplies to Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City on Friday and evacuate twelve patients to the South. “We were informed this morning that this mission had to be suspended due to the security situation”he added.
Health workers in the Gaza Strip do not have enough water and food to continue working, he lamented. “Patients are bleeding on the floor, trauma wards look like battlefields”reported Mr. Lindmeier. “This cruelty must stop”he concluded.