Officials sound alarm over ‘imminent’ typhoid and cholera outbreak in Gaza
Palestinians evacuate to the south of Gaza
Hunkered down residents in Gaza are facing the prospect of serious disease as conditions caused by Israeli attacks have led to unsanitary conditions.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has issued a dire warning about an impending public health crisis in Gaza, as the healthcare system teeters on the brink of collapse.
Waterborne diseases, including cholera and typhoid, are more likely to thrive due to unsafe water, sanitation and poor hygiene.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that 95 percent of the population lacks access to safe water and 64 percent of primary health facilities have been shuttered.
Life-saving medicines have also been held up at the Rafah crossing.
In a press release, the IRC has called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
This ceasefire would allow aid to flow into Gaza, enable the evacuation of the injured, facilitate hostage negotiations and releases, and bring in protection to reduce suffering.
Bob Kitchen, the IRC’s VP of Emergencies, emphasized the gravity of the situation. He said: “The humanitarian suffering in Gaza has already reached catastrophic levels, and it’s set to get worse unless something changes immediately.
“While the overwhelming driver of mortality remains the ongoing violence and destruction, a humanitarian ceasefire now would also serve to help aid agencies get ahead of a looming public health crisis within an already vast humanitarian crisis.”
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Gaza’s water and sanitation systems, as well as its fragile healthcare sector, have been severely damaged by airstrikes.
Health facilities are overwhelmed with trauma patients, facing a dangerous shortage of medicines and fuel. These conditions, compounded by the lack of safe water, are ripe for the spread of communicable and waterborne diseases, particularly affecting children, and can lead to preventable deaths.
The IRC has said it would like to deploy its expertise to avoid this catastrophe but says it requires a “humanitarian ceasefire” to allow for the free flow of aid.
Kitchen added: “Immediate and sustained diplomatic intervention is urgently needed to enable a humanitarian ceasefire, which would pave the way for addressing these pressing humanitarian and protection needs and halt the health catastrophe that will lead to more deaths, particularly among children.”
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In anticipation of today’s humanitarian conference organized by French President Emmanuel Macron, the organization has underscored its call for a meaningful humanitarian ceasefire, emphasizing the urgency of this situation to prevent a health catastrophe and further loss of life, especially among children.
Macron inaugurated a Gaza aid conference today by urging Israel to safeguard the well-being of civilians, emphasizing that “all lives have equal worth” and that fighting terrorism “can never be carried out without rules.”
This comes as the Israel Defense Forces captured the main Hamas HQ in Gaza.
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