- Nov 22, 2010
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The situation on the ground is impossible to describe.
Hospital corridors crammed with the injured, the sick, the dying;
Morgues overflowing;
Surgery without anaesthesia;
Tens of thousands of displaced people sheltering at hospitals;
Families crammed into overcrowded schools, desperate for food and water.
More than 10 800 people have now been killed in Gaza, almost 70% of them women and children.
On average, a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza.
1.5 million people have been displaced, and are looking for shelter anywhere they can find it. But nowhere and no-one is safe.
As more and more people move to a smaller and smaller space, overcrowding is increasing the risks of outbreaks of diarrheal and respiratory disease and skin infections.
WHO is on the ground in Gaza, alongside our partners, to support health workers, who are physically and mentally exhausted and are doing their best in unimaginable conditions.
In addition to caring for the 27 000 people who are wounded, many of them with life-threatening injuries, they are trying to manage the regular health needs of more than 2 million people.
Last week, WHO documented 5 attacks on 5 hospitals in one day.
In the past 48 hours alone, four hospitals have been put out of action, representing some 430 beds.
More than 100 of our UN colleagues have been killed, and counting.
And as we speak, there are reports of firing outside the Al-Shifa and Rantisi hospitals.
Half of the Gaza Strip’s 36 hospitals and two-thirds of its primary health care centres are not functioning at all. Those that are functioning are operating way beyond their capacities. The health system is on its knees, and yet somehow is continuing to deliver some lifesaving care.
Hospital corridors crammed with the injured, the sick, the dying;
Morgues overflowing;
Surgery without anaesthesia;
Tens of thousands of displaced people sheltering at hospitals;
Families crammed into overcrowded schools, desperate for food and water.
More than 10 800 people have now been killed in Gaza, almost 70% of them women and children.
On average, a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza.
1.5 million people have been displaced, and are looking for shelter anywhere they can find it. But nowhere and no-one is safe.
As more and more people move to a smaller and smaller space, overcrowding is increasing the risks of outbreaks of diarrheal and respiratory disease and skin infections.
WHO is on the ground in Gaza, alongside our partners, to support health workers, who are physically and mentally exhausted and are doing their best in unimaginable conditions.
In addition to caring for the 27 000 people who are wounded, many of them with life-threatening injuries, they are trying to manage the regular health needs of more than 2 million people.
Last week, WHO documented 5 attacks on 5 hospitals in one day.
In the past 48 hours alone, four hospitals have been put out of action, representing some 430 beds.
More than 100 of our UN colleagues have been killed, and counting.
And as we speak, there are reports of firing outside the Al-Shifa and Rantisi hospitals.
Half of the Gaza Strip’s 36 hospitals and two-thirds of its primary health care centres are not functioning at all. Those that are functioning are operating way beyond their capacities. The health system is on its knees, and yet somehow is continuing to deliver some lifesaving care.
WHO Director-General's remarks at the Emergency Meeting of the United Nations Security Council – 10 November 2023
Emergency meeting on the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory
www.who.int