The WHO says Gaza is witnessing an average of 300 deaths per day, with only nine of its 36 hospitals “partially functioning.”
Calling for an immediate ceasefire, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Thursday, “I have lost count of the number of times when I thought the crisis in Gaza could not get more horrific. But it has happened again.”
“The fact we are talking about 20,000 people killed, mostly children and women, and with over 52,000 (and counting) afflicted by life-threatening and -altering injuries, in nearly 3 months is both horrific, and, above all, a travesty for humanity,” he lamented in a statement.
The WHO chief said, “The horrors are endless for those trapped in what has become a Hell on earth.”
"Speaking to the Palestine Chronicle, several residents described how the Israeli war impacted their lives. They speak of a widespread hunger".
Read the latest story by Abdallah Aljamal, reporting from war-torn Gaza.https://t.co/x0E2fl1DDI pic.twitter.com/wINbw9Ce5G
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 21, 2023
In his statement, he listed points to sum up the current situation.
“We are witnessing,” he said, the following:
“On average around 300 deaths a day while hostilities have raged;
A devastated health system with only 9 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals partially functioning; with none functioning in the north;
Children orphaned after parents have been slain;
Disease, hunger and lack of clean water and sanitation posing further risks beyond the bombs and bullets;
A constantly perilous and restricted humanitarian space in which to deliver life-saving medical supplies in;
Mental health trauma that will haunt many for years.”
“The carnage must stop. We need a ceasefire now,” he concluded.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 8,000 children and 6,200 women, and 52,600 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7. Palestinian and international estimates say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
