{"id":206875,"date":"2025-10-12T03:09:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T03:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/206875\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T03:09:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T03:09:22","slug":"who-says-rebuilding-gazas-shattered-health-system-critical-to-a-lasting-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/206875\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO says rebuilding Gaza\u2019s shattered health system critical to a lasting peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Hanan Balkhy, WHO<\/a> Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said Gaza\u2019s health services had been \u201cshattered\u201d after two years of conflict and \u201con the brink of total collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the fighting stops, a new struggle will begin \u2013 to rebuild Gaza\u2019s health system and rescue an entire population from the edge of famine and despair,\u201d she told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Reconstruction will cost over $7 billion, according to WHO estimates, covering humanitarian response, early recovery and long-term rebuilding.<\/p>\n

\u201cRebuilding Gaza\u2019s health system will not only save lives today; it will restore dignity, stability and hope for the future,\u201d Dr. Balkhy said.<\/p>\n

Two years into the war, the humanitarian toll remains staggering.<\/p>\n

Dr. Balkhy said more than half a million are \u201ctrapped in famine-like conditions,\u201d while another million are severely food-insecure. Since January, 455 people \u2013 including 151 children, mostly under five \u2013 have died from malnutrition, according to Palestinian health authorities.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\u00a9 UNICEF\/Mohammed Nateel<\/p>\n

A teenage boy receives treatment in a hospital in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u2018A hellish war\u2019<\/p>\n

The UN Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF<\/a>) painted an equally grim picture, describing Gaza as \u201ca hellish war that has devastated children.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a>, Executive Director Catherine Russell said, \u201cin the last two years, a staggering 64,000 children have reportedly been killed or maimed across the Gaza Strip, including at least 1,000 babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cFamine persists in Gaza City and is spreading to the south, where children are already living in dire conditions,\u201d she added<\/p>\n

UNICEF called for an immediate ceasefire and for Israel to ensure full protection of civilians under international law.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery child killed is an irreplaceable loss,\u201d Ms. Russell said. \u201cFor the sake of all children in Gaza, this war must end now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critical supplies needed now<\/p>\n

Dr. Balkhy said WHO had delivered 17 million litres of fuel to keep Gaza\u2019s hospitals and ambulances running, but \u201cfar more is needed.\u201d Essential supplies \u2013 from antibiotics to wound dressings \u2013 must reach all parts of the territory \u201cwithout delay,\u201d she stressed.<\/p>\n

Of Gaza\u2019s 176 primary healthcare centres, only about a third remain partially functional.<\/p>\n

WHO has warned that the collapse of vaccination, maternity and mental health services has compounded the risk of outbreaks. More than 1,700 health workers have been killed since October 2023.<\/p>\n

Talks continue<\/p>\n

On the political front, top US envoys and other leading intermediaries from Qatar and T\u00fcrkiye arrived in Egypt\u2019s Sharm el-Sheikh resort for a third day of indirect talks on Wednesday between Israeli and Hamas representatives.<\/p>\n

Continuing hostilities<\/p>\n

Despite ongoing talks, Israeli military operations have continued in Gaza City\u2019s Rimal and Zaitoun neighbourhoods, according to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA<\/a> \u2013 \u201cmaking the already dire humanitarian situation even more perilous\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur partners on the ground report that many people are unable to leave the north due to insecurity,\u201d UN Spokesperson St\u00e9phane Dujarric told the press at a regular briefing in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are sleeping out in the open and struggling to survive, amid severe food and shelter shortages.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new UN analysis found that 83 per cent of structures in Gaza City have been damaged, with around 81,000 housing units affected.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Hanan Balkhy, WHO Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said Gaza\u2019s health services had been \u201cshattered\u201d after two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-206875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}