Untreated sewage and overcrowding are leading to the rapid spread of disease, while three-quarters of the Strip’s hospitals have stopped functioning.
by Ibtisam Mahdi, +972 Magazine
In late November, Margaret Harris, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization, warned that without urgent action to repair the Gaza Strip’s rapidly collapsing health system, more people would soon die from disease than from Israel’s bombings. “[There are] no medicines, no vaccination activities, no access to safe water and hygiene and no food,” she said, summarizing the dire humanitarian conditions amid Israel’s ongoing bombardment and intensified siege.
Nearly a month later, the full extent of the crisis is still not being fully comprehended outside of the Strip, according to Palestinian health care professionals in Gaza. “The information, statistics, and news circulating worldwide only scratches the surface of the actual reality,” Dr. Adnan al-Wahidi, a child health expert from Gaza City, told +972. “It captures just a small fraction of the alarming health situation in the Gaza Strip.”
![Workers offload aid boxes from a truck to Gaza residents](https://progressivehub.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/6773873512_71721207d5_c-uai-258x172.jpg)
With Israel’s airstrikes and ground invasion forcibly displacing nearly all of the Strip’s 2.2 million residents, there is unprecedented overcrowding in parts of southern Gaza — in particular the city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt, which is still being bombed despite the Israeli army having declared it a “safe zone,” and the coastal area of Al-Mawasi where there is very little infrastructure at all. Tens of thousands of families are sheltering in flooded tent encampments, while starving children queue for hours every day at food distribution centers.
Recent Posts
Israeli Forces Reportedly Kill U.S. Human Rights Activist With ‘Deliberate Shot To The Head’
September 6, 2024
Take Action Now “A soldier fired directly at the protestors, hitting the American activist in the head from behind,” said one……
Who Wants To Kill And Die For The U.S. Empire?
September 6, 2024
Take Action Now As Israeli and Ukrainian leaders see their political support crumbling, Netanyahu and Zelenskyy are taking increasingly desperate…
Knowledge Is Power. Gaza War Supporters Don’t Want Students To Have Both.
September 5, 2024
Take Action Now The elites that were appalled by the moral uprising on college campuses against Israel’s slaughter in Gaza are now doing all they can…
U.S. Media Doesn’t Care About Macron’s Election Corruption
September 4, 2024
Take Action Now The U.S. press is losing interest as the winners of France’s election are barred from taking power. By Paul Hedreen, FAIR……