In a special session held today in Geneva, WHO’s Executive Board adopted a resolution aimed at addressing the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. The resolution was adopted by consensus.
 

This is the first time since 7 October that a resolution on this conflict has been adopted by consensus within the UN system. It underscores the importance of health as a universal priority, in all circumstances, and the role of healthcare and humanitarianism in building bridges to peace, even in the most difficult of situations.
 

WHO reiterates its call for the protection of health care and humanitarian assistance in Gaza, following military checkpoint delays and detention of health partners during a mission to transfer critically-ill patients and deliver supplies to a hospital in northern Gaza. During the mission, a patient reportedly died.

WHO staff participated in a joint UN mission to Al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza on 16 December to deliver health supplies and assess the situation in the facility. Partners on today’s mission included OCHA, UNDSS, and UNMAS. The team delivered medicines and surgical supplies, orthopedic surgery equipment, and anesthesia materials and drugs to the hospital.  
 

WHO and partners completed another high-risk mission on Monday to resupply fuel to the Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people remain cut off from aid. Across the Gaza Strip, the few remaining hospitals find themselves in ever more dire circumstances, with hostilities often preventing access for patients and supplies, and health workers managing on little rest and scarce supplies.

As the risk of famine grows, and more people are e

World Health Organization teams have undertaken high-risk missions to deliver supplies, with partners, to hospitals in Northern and Southern Gaza witnessing intense hostilities in their vicinity, high patient loads and overcrowding caused by people displaced by the conflict seeking refuge.

Hunger is ravaging Gaza, and this is expected to i

In the early hours of 7 October 2023, Palestinian militants launched al-Aqsa Deluge, a multi-pronged attack on Israel, including Israeli border towns ringing the Gaza Strip and beyond. By mid-morning the same day, Israeli aircrafts had launched strikes on hundreds of targets in Gaza Strip. The next day, Israel’s security cabinet approved a formal declaration of war for the first time in half a century.

SUMMARY OF CRISIS AND KEY FINDINGS

The recent escalation of hostilities in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) is taking a heavy toll on civilians. Thousands have been killed or injured, and over 1.4 million people have been displaced. There have been 171 attacks on health care in oPt leading to 493 deaths and 387 injuries, with 56 attacks impacting health facilities and 130 impacting health personnel, as of 24 October 2023.