World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday (Jan 8) that its unit in the Palestinian territory has been facing massive troubles in reaching the war-ravaged region.
In a blog post on social media platform X, the office of WHO Palestinian territories said that it’s been 12 days since they were last able to reach northern Gaza.
It added, “Heavy bombardment, movement restrictions, and interrupted communications are making it nearly impossible to deliver medical supplies regularly and safely across Gaza, particularly in the north.”
The office of WHO said informed that on Monday, it cancelled a planned mission to Al-Awda hospital and the central drug store in northern Gaza for the fourth time since December 26 because they did not receive deconfliction and safety guarantees.
“The mission planned to move urgently needed medical supplies to sustain the operations of five hospitals in the north, including Al-Awda,” it said.
The world health agency emphasised that in the absence of adequate health care, the suffering in Gaza is growing each hour.
As quoted by WHO in its post, Dr Mohamed Obied, an Orthopedic Consultant at Al-Awda Hospital explained the challenges amputees face.
He said that “injured people are often only able to reach doctors days or weeks after they’ve been hurt, sometimes with severe infections, reducing the possibility of saving their limbs”.
Dr Obied added that the “health facilities don’t have the specialised health workers medicines or equipment these injuries require”.
Doctors face the hard choice of performing above-knee rather than below-knee amputations. These pose rehabilitation challenges and can lead to poor life quality in the future, Dr Obied further added.
He said that amputees need physiotherapy and rehabilitation, proper nursing care, along with nutritious food and mental health support, the facilities which are currently unavailable.
Watch: Israeli strike kills two Palestinian journalists in Gaza
Death toll update
Meanwhile, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza claimed on Monday that at least 23,084 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since war with Israel began on October 7.
The ministry said in a statement that it had recorded 249 deaths in the past 24 hours, while a total of 58,926 people had been wounded in the Gaza Strip during the more than three months of fighting.
Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict after the Hamas attacks. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.
(With inputs from agencies)
