UN warns: Gaza is witnessing public health catastrophe

CAIRO - 4 January 2024: The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned that Gaza is witnessing a public health catastrophe, and that the mass displacement in southern Gaza is leading to the spread of diseases. 

 

The UN office noted that more than 400,000 cases of infectious diseases have been reported since October 7, while about 180,000 people suffer from infections in the Upper respiratory tract.

 

More than 136,000 cases of diarrhea were reported, half of them among children under the age of five.

 

The office confirmed that its humanitarian partners continue to address the severe shortage of hygiene and safe drinking water in Gaza, despite the ongoing challenges facing response efforts, explaining that since October, about 1.4 million people in Gaza have been reached at least once to obtain some aid in the field of water and sanitation.

 

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs confirmed that the United Nations and its partners in the humanitarian field were unable to provide the much-needed life-saving humanitarian assistance north of the Gaza Valley for three days due to the prevention of its delivery.

 

This includes medicines that would have provided vital support to more than 100,000 people for 30 days, as well as eight truckloads of food for people currently facing catastrophic, life-threatening food insecurity.

 

The office renewed its demand from humanitarian organizations for urgent, safe, sustainable and unhindered access of aid to the areas of northern Gaza, which have been separated from the south for more than a month.