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GENEVA: The UN health agency on Tuesday said Israel should let it stock medical supplies to deal with a “catastrophic” health situation in Gaza before it seizes control of Gaza City.
Israel has said its military would “take control” of Gaza City in a plan approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet that sparked a wave of global criticism.
“We want to stock up, and we all hear about ‘more humanitarian supplies are allowed in’ — well it’s not happening yet, or it’s happening at a way too low a pace,” said Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s representative in the Palestinian territories.
Fifty-two percent of medicines were running at zero stock, Peeperkorn said, speaking from Jerusalem.
UN agencies warned last month that famine was unfolding in Gaza, with Israel severely restricting aid entry.
Peeperkorn said the WHO was able to bring in fewer supplies than it wanted “due to the cumbersome procedures” and products “still denied” entry — a topic of constant negotiation with the Israeli authorities.
“We want to as quickly stock up hospitals... following the news — the whole discussion about an incursion in Gaza,” he said.
“We currently cannot do that... We need to be able to get all essential medicines and medical supplies in.”
Peeperkorn said only 50 percent of hospitals and 38 percent of primary health care centers were functioning, and that too partially.
Bed occupancy has reached 240 percent capacity in the Al-Shifa hospital and 300 percent Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza.
“The overall health situation remains catastrophic,” he said. “Hunger and malnutrition continue to ravage Gaza.”
Peeperkorn said 148 people died from the effects of malnutrition this year, citing August 5 as the cut-off date.
Nearly 12,000 children aged under five were identified to be suffering from acute malnutrition in July — the highest monthly figure recorded to date in Gaza, Peeperkorn said.
These include 2,562 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, of whom 40 were hospitalized at stabilization centers.