Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the halt in hostilities but said \u201cthe crisis is far from over and the needs are immense.\u201d<\/p>\n
He highlighted the toll of months of conflict: more than 170,000 people injured \u2013including 5,000 amputees and 3,600 people with severe burns. At least 42,000 require long-term rehabilitation, and 4,000 women give birth each month \u201cin unsafe conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Psychological wounds<\/p>\n
\u201cThe destruction has been physical but also psychological,\u201d he said. \u201cAn estimated one million people need access to mental health care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tedros described a system on the brink of collapse. \u201cThere are no fully functioning hospitals in Gaza, and only 14 out of 36 are functioning at all,\u201d he said, citing \u201ccritical shortages of essential medicines, equipment and health workers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the ceasefire took effect two weeks ago, WHO<\/a> teams have scaled up support, sending medical supplies to hospitals, deploying emergency medical teams, and facilitating evacuations.<\/p>\n \u201cYesterday, we supported the evacuation of 41 patients and 145 companions to several countries,\u201d Tedros said, thanking over 20 nations that have received evacuees.<\/p>\n 700 dead waiting for evacuation<\/p>\n But with 15,000 patients still in need of treatment outside Gaza \u2013 including 4,000 children \u2013 he stressed that \u201cmore than 700 have died while waiting for evacuation.\u201d<\/p>\n He urged the reopening of the Rafah crossing and the restoration of medical referrals to the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, to enable urgent care and expand aid delivery.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough the flow of aid has increased, it\u2019s still only a fraction of what is needed,\u201d Tedros said, noting that \u201ca significant amount of aid has built up at Al-Arish in Egypt\u201d awaiting the reopening of Rafah at the southern tip of the enclave.<\/p>\n The UN\u2019s 60-day ceasefire plan seeks $45 million to maintain essential health services, strengthen disease prevention and early warning systems, coordinate health partners and support reconstruction.<\/p>\n Rebuilding Gaza\u2019s health system, however, will cost \u201cat least $7 billion,\u201d he said. \u201cWHO was in Gaza before the war started, we have been there throughout, and we will stay there to help the people of Gaza build a healthier, safer and fairer future.\u201d<\/p>\n Aid and access<\/p>\n In New York, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said the UN and partners are stepping up relief efforts. A UN team recently reached Gaza City\u2019s Az Zaitoun neighbourhood \u2013 inaccessible before the ceasefire \u2013 where more than 200 returning families live in \u201cextremely poor\u201d conditions.<\/p>\n Residents walk up to two kilometres to reach the nearest water point and urgently need food, clean water, hygiene items and cash assistance for winter essentials.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, UN agencies continue to deliver vital aid. The World Food Programme (WFP<\/a>) is distributing fortified snacks to schoolchildren, while more than 140 trucks of food, hygiene kits and emergency shelter items entered Gaza earlier this week.<\/p>\n Children\u2019s agency UNICEF<\/a> has delivered 20 trucks of baby diapers, and crisis operations hub\u00a0UNOPS<\/a> distributed nearly 160,000 litres of fuel for humanitarian operations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ceasefire offers a lifeline,\u201d said Tedros, \u201cbut Gaza\u2019s health system \u2013 and its people \u2013 are still fighting for survival.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the halt in hostilities but said \u201cthe crisis is far from over and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-100542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}