WHO paints grim picture of Palestinian health services

Conflict and Covid-19 stretch healthcare systems in Gaza and West Bank

Dr Marwan Abu Sada attends to a wounded child at at Shifa Hospital in Gaza city on May 17, 2021. Reuters

Israeli strikes damaged 24 healthcare centres in the Gaza Strip before a truce took effect on Friday.

The impact is severely hindering the treatment of hundreds wounded during 11 days of attacks, the UN’s health agency said.

They have only worsened the already dire healthcare situation there, said Dr Ahmed Al Mandhari, the World Health Organisation’s chief for the East Mediterranean region.

He said the situation was made worse by Israel’s closure of entry and exit points into the Gaza Strip.

“Healthcare facilities and staff should be a red line for any conflict; they should not be targets, nor should they be impacted by so-called ‘collateral damage’,” Dr Al Mandhari said at a WHO virtual conference held on Thursday before the ceasefire began.

The WHO head of office for West Bank and Gaza, Dr Richard Peeperkorn, Regional Emergency Director Dr Richard Brennan and Director of Communicable Diseases Dr Yvan Hutin also took part in the conference on the health impact of the conflict on people living in the Palestinian territory.

A Palestinian man carries his daughter next to a destroyed tower, following Israeli air strikes in Gaza city. EPA

Rockets are launched towards Israel from Gaza city. AFP

A Palestinian man stands next to his destroyed house after Israeli air strikes in Gaza city. EPA

Palestinian demonstrators clash with Israeli troops at the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus city, in the occupied West Bank. AFP

A Palestinian protester collects stones amid clashes with Israeli security forces near the settlement of Beit El and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. AFP

Palestinian firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a paint factory after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip. AP Photo

An Israeli soldier works at an artillery unit near the border between Israel and the Gaza strip, on the Israeli side. Reuters

Israeli relatives attend the funeral of Yigal Yehoshua in the city of Modiin. The Israeli man, 56, who was beaten in the city of Lod, died in hospital, police said. AFP

Israeli soldiers fire a 155mm self-propelled howitzer towards the Gaza Strip from their position along the border. AFP

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urges President Biden to 'remain strong' in support of Israel's military campaign against Hamas. EPA

Eritrean asylum seeker Kahase Gerensae and his children take shelter in the stairwell outside their apartment in Ashdod, Israel, during a siren warning of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. AP Photo

Palestinians walk among the rubble of a destroyed building after Israeli air strikes in Gaza city. EPA

A Palestinian child, who was wounded in overnight Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, receives treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza city. Getty Images

Suzy Ishkontana, 7, and her father Riad Ishkontana, 42, survived an Israeli air strike that killed their family and destroyed their home. AP Photo

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 243 Gazans, including 66 children, were killed before the truce halted Israel’s offensive on the territory, and about 1,910 Gazans were wounded.

Anti-Israel protests in the West Bank during the same period killed 27, including four children, and injured 6,778, including 701 from live ammunition, the WHO said.

The escalating violence has also caused significant damage to much of the civil and healthcare infrastructure of the West Bank and Gaza, Dr Al Mandhari said.

As part of a $7 million response plan, WHO is working with the Palestinian Health Ministry to offer emergency treatment to the wounded in Gaza. This includes 10 medical tents encircling the enclave.

Healthcare operations in both areas are severely overwhelmed because they face critical shortages in essential medical supplies, he said.

Medics in both areas must now treat the wounded in addition to a growing number of Covid-19 patients as both areas emerge from a more aggressive third wave of the coronavirus, he said.

An increase in waterborne disease caused by damage to sewage systems has worsened the problem.

“WHO is extremely concerned about the loss of so many lives,” he said.

Dr Peeperkorn said that while exceptions have been made enabling Palestinians to leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, and for Egyptian aid convoys to enter, there was still a “crying need” for essential humanitarian supplies.

Israeli air strikes have also damaged many of the main roads in Gaza, making it difficult for ambulances to reach the wounded.

Gaza’s largest Covid-19 testing laboratory, the Rimal Clinic, was almost destroyed in an air strike. It severely injured a doctor who was on duty at the time, Dr Peeperkorn said.

Only one other testing centre is left in Gaza but it operates on a much smaller scale than Rimal, with a capacity of 250 PCR tests a day.

“Covid-19 is still a real issue and I want to stress the point that both the West Bank and Gaza were just coming out of the third wave,” he said. “The damage and displacement of people will not help the Covid-19 situation.”

About 75,000 people were displaced in Gaza over the course of the latest conflict, of whom 47,000 sought shelter in 58 schools run by the UN Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA.