Gaza’s Blockade – A Silent Killer Unleashing Deadly Diseases

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United Nations: Following the brief “humanitarian pause” between Israel and Palestinians, UN officials issued a dire warning on Tuesday.

They cautioned that the spread of disease could soon claim more Palestinian lives than the deadly Israeli bomb attacks, emphasizing the urgent need for aid delivery in Gaza. Of utmost importance is the transportation of fuel to the war-torn enclave’s northern regions to power hospitals, ensure clean water access, and sustain critical civilian infrastructure.

The provision of these essential services has been severely disrupted by weeks of Israeli bombardment since October 7. Gazan health authorities have reported a staggering toll, with over 15,000 casualties, predominantly women and children, from the ongoing attacks.

In an update from southern Gaza, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder said that a doctor from Al-Shifa hospital in the north had told him that the threats to children were “very much from the air and now very much on the ground,” in the form of diarrhoea and respiratory infections.

“He was terrified as a medical professional in terms of the disease outbreak that is lurking here and how that will devastate children whose immune systems and lack of food are making them perilously weak,” Elder added.

As negotiations continue for the release of more hostages in return for a prolongation of the pause in fighting, UNICEF spoke of his dismay at seeing so many youngsters fighting for their lives, “with horrendous wounds of war, laying in car parks on makeshift mattresses, in gardens everywhere, doctors having to make horrendous decisions on who they prioritize.”

Another boy whose leg had been blown off in the violence had spent “three or four days” trying to reach the south, delayed by checkpoints, Mr. Elder continued. “The smell (of decomposition) was clear, and that boy had shrapnel all over. Potentially, he was blind and had burns to 50 percent of his body.”

Echoing deep concerns over the scale of needs in Gaza, the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) noted that an assessment carried out in the north at the start of the pause in fighting on November 24 had shown that “everybody everywhere has dire health needs.”

Speaking in Geneva, WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris said that this was “because they are starving, because they lack clean water, and because they’re crowded together… basically, if you’re sick, if your child has diarrhoea, if you’ve got a respiratory infection, you’re not going to get any help.”

In its latest update, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said that deliveries of relief supplies have been speeded up south of Wadi Gaza, where the bulk of some estimated 1.7 million internally displaced persons have sought shelter.