Mr President, Excellencies, dear colleagues,

Thank you, Mr President, for convening this meeting.

On Tuesday of this week, I met for the second time with families of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.

I heard and felt their pain and heartache.

WHO continues to call for those hostages who are still alive to be released, without condition.

We are deeply concerned for their health and well-being, just as we are concerned for the health and well-being of the people of Gaza, which is becoming more precarious every hour.

Your Excellency Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Chair of the Executive Board,

Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

I think we all agree that this is a meeting we would rather not be having.
 

As I have said repeatedly, I deplore the barbaric and unjustifiable attacks by Hamas on Israel on the 7th of October, which killed more than 1200 people.
 

I am appalled by reports of gender-based violence during the attacks, and by the mistreatment of hostages.
 

Your Excellency Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Chair of the Executive Board,

Your Excellency Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, Vice Chair of the Executive Board,
 

Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
 

I thank Member States for the resolution you have adopted.
 

You have achieved something that so far, Member States have not achieved in other fora: the first consensus resolution on the conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory since it began two months ago.
 

I know it was not easy, but it was worth it.
 

The World Health Organization (WHO) repeats its call for an end to the hostilities that are causing untold suffering in Israel and the Gaza Strip. Over 1000 people have died and many more injured following horrific acts of violence by Hamas and others on Saturday in Israel. Nine hundred people have died and many more injured in days of bombing by Israel in Gaza. The pain of so many families must be unbearable.
 

WHO has offered assistance to health officials in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.   
 

WHO joins the wider United Nations in appealing to Israel to immediately rescind orders for the evacuation of over 1 million people living north of Wadi Gaza. A mass evacuation would be disastrous—for patients, health workers and other civilians left behind or caught in the mass movement.

WHO strongly condemns the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip. The hospital was operational, with patients, health and care givers, and internally displaced people sheltering there. Early reports indicate hundreds of fatalities and injuries.

Gravely concerned by the humanitarian and health situation facing approximately 200 people, including health workers and up to 30 children, abducted from Israel by Hamas and other armed groups on 7 October 2023, the World Health Organization today reiterated its call for the immediate release of all the hostages, along with urgent access to each of them and delivery of medical care.

During a night of intense bombardment and ground i

Women, children and newborns in Gaza are disproportionately bearing the burden of the escalation of hostilities in the occupied Palestinian territory, both as casualties and in reduced access to health services, warn the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Statement by UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini and WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus