WHO Urges Immediate Entry of Medicines and Supplies Into Gaza Under Israeli Blockade

The World Health Organization called for the immediate entry of medicines and essential supplies into the besieged Gaza Strip, linking the access demand to the “large-scale reconstruction of health services.”

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the appeal in a post on X, saying the organization was responding to a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza under an Israeli blockade.

Al Jazeera

Saba reported that Ghebreyesus said the WHO supported the establishment of a new family health center in northern Gaza, where health services are “extremely limited and inaccessible.”

Arab News PK similarly said Ghebreyesus urged “the immediate entry of medicines and essential supplies into the besieged Gaza Strip” to enable “the large-scale restoration of health services.”

Qatar news agency (QNA) carried the same core message, stating Ghebreyesus called for allowing entry “without delay” to enable rebuilding of health services.

Al-Jazeera Net also described the WHO appeal as a call to allow medicines and essential supplies into Gaza “without delay, to begin rebuilding health services on a large scale,” while emphasizing the need to remove “bureaucratic obstacles” and lift “restrictions on access to Gaza.”

Across the reports, the WHO’s stated focus was not only immediate lifesaving care but also restoring health services at scale through a new family health center in northern Gaza.

The WHO’s Gaza plan described in the reports centers on a new family health center in northern Gaza, presented as a way to deliver services directly where access is limited.

Arab News PK quoted Ghebreyesus saying the center “will deliver essential health services, including noncommunicable disease management, maternal and child health services, routine vaccination, wound care, and basic physical rehabilitation, alongside referrals for cases requiring higher-level care.”

Al-Jazeera Net

Saba described the same center as part of the WHO’s support for “the establishment of a new family health center in northern Gaza,” where health services are “extremely limited and inaccessible to a large segment of the population.”

QNA likewise said Ghebreyesus supported the establishment of the center in northern Gaza, emphasizing that health services remain “extremely limited and inaccessible to many residents.”

Al-Jazeera Net added that the center “contributes to delivering health services directly to the people,” while stressing that “health needs across Gaza are very large.”

The reports also tied the center’s operation to the ability to bring in medicines and supplies, with Ghebreyesus urging entry “without delay” to begin rebuilding health services “on a broad scale” and “on a wide scale.”

Together, the accounts portray the WHO’s message as both a request for immediate access and a blueprint for restoring care through a specific facility in northern Gaza.

Beyond the WHO’s call for medicines, SANA reported that WHO warned medication stocks in Gaza are “dangerously low” because Israeli restrictions limit the entry of medical aid.

SANA quoted Hanan Balkhi, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, saying essential supplies are already exhausted and that the health care system, already fragile, faces a critical shortage of surgical equipment and fuel essential to hospital operations.

Balkhi told SANA that the WHO managed to bring in “on Tuesday and Wednesday, part of the supplies and fuel,” but only “200 trucks out of the 600 needed daily,” which SANA said remains far from sufficient.

SANA also reported Balkhi’s call for authorizing more fuel “to allow hospitals to continue operating.”

The report said half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals have remained closed since the ceasefire, and it specified that about 18,000 people, including children and patients with chronic illnesses, are waiting for medical care outside the territory.

SANA further stated that the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s main exit point, is closed.

Arab News PK added that Palestinians and international aid bodies say supplies reaching Gaza are still insufficient despite a ceasefire reached in October that included guarantees of increased aid.

Arab News PK connected the health system crisis to the wider collapse of water and sanitation infrastructure, describing how water restrictions and shortages have been a recurring issue throughout the war in Gaza.

The report said pipelines were destroyed, water trucks hit by strikes, and spent munitions seeping into the groundwater aquifer many use for wells.

Arab News PK

It cited a Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, accusation that Israel used water as a weapon of war, describing a “campaign of collective punishment” and saying MSF accused Israel of “systemically depriving” people.

The report added that other groups, including Human Rights Watch, lodged similar accusations.

Arab News PK also stated that nearly 90 percent of the enclave’s water infrastructure was destroyed, according to the UN, including desalination plants and sewage treatment facilities.

It described pre-war distribution methods, saying that before the war, government providers and private companies distributed water via trucks and underground pipes, while wastewater was circulated to treatment facilities via underground pipes.

The article then tied the reconstruction priority to the scale of reliance on trucked water, quoting Wash Cluster estimating that “80 percent of people in Gaza rely on water delivered by trucks to central distribution points.”

Several of the reports place the WHO’s appeal within a longer timeline of blockade and displacement, describing Gaza as under siege for years and emphasizing the scale of population displacement.

Arab News PK said most of Gaza’s more than 2 million people have been displaced, many living in “bombed-out homes and makeshift tents pitched on open ground, roadsides, or atop the ruins of destroyed buildings.”

BBC

It described the ceasefire reached in October that included guarantees of increased aid, while stating that Palestinians and international aid bodies say supplies reaching Gaza are still insufficient.

Al-Jazeera Net described Israel as having besieged the Gaza Strip since 2007 and said about 1.5 million Palestinians out of about 2.4 million in the enclave have become homeless after a “genocide war” destroyed their homes.

It also referenced a ceasefire agreement reached after two years of genocide that Israel began on October 7, 2023, with American support, leaving “more than 72,000 martyrs and more than 172,000 Palestinian wounded.”

The same Al-Jazeera Net account said Israel continues the genocide with “daily siege and bombardment” that results in martyrs and injuries, while also preventing the entry of sufficient quantities of food, medicines, medical supplies, and shelter materials into Gaza.

Across these accounts, the WHO’s call for unimpeded entry of medicines and supplies is presented as a response to a system that has already displaced and injured large numbers of people and continues to restrict access to essential goods.