Famine, epidemics and infectious diseases threaten 1.9 million displaced people in Gaza

Gaza (Union)

More than 1.9 million displaced people in the Gaza Strip face the risk of famine, epidemics and infectious diseases as a result of the lack of adequate shelter, water, food and medicine, while 50,000 pregnant women and more than 900,000 children lack the necessary health care in shelter centres. This came as the Palestinian Ministry of Health called on UN institutions to intervene. Urgent to prevent a health, humanitarian and psychological catastrophe.
The Palestinian Minister of Health, Mai Al-Kaila, announced that routine children’s vaccinations had begun entering Gaza, through the Rafah land crossing, for the first time since the start of the war on the Strip on October 7th.
Al-Kaila said in a statement: “The vaccines purchased by the Palestinian government, in addition to what was donated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), have begun entering the Gaza Strip.”
Al-Kaila added, “The Egyptian Ministry of Health had previously agreed to use the cold chain located in Egyptian territory to preserve vaccines until they were brought into Gaza, where they were dealt with and brought into Gaza within the international standards used to preserve vaccines, according to the supervision of UNICEF.” She stated, “This comes in light of the critical epidemiological situation caused by the war on the Gaza Strip.”
The shipment that entered Gaza includes vaccinations for “polio, measles, rubella, mumps,” and other routine vaccinations for children, which are sufficient for a period ranging from 8 to 14 months.
This is the first shipment of vaccines to enter the Gaza Strip since last October 7, according to the ministry’s statement.
The Ministry of Health also said that there are 50,000 pregnant women and more than 900,000 children who lack the necessary health care in shelter centers in the Gaza Strip. Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra explained, in a press conference, that “the health and humanitarian conditions for more than 1.9 million displaced people are catastrophic and overwhelming.”
He pointed out that “the displaced people in the Gaza Strip are exposed to the risks of famine and the spread of epidemics and infectious diseases as a result of the lack of appropriate shelter, water, food and medicine in the places to which they have been displaced.”
The ministry spokesman stated that “50,000 pregnant women suffer from malnutrition and health complications, especially those with high-risk pregnancies, as a result of the lack of drinking water, hygiene, food, and health care in shelter centers.” “More than 900,000 children in shelter centers are exposed to the dangers of extreme cold, dehydration, malnutrition, infectious respiratory and skin diseases, and psychological disorders,” according to a ministry spokesman.
Al-Qudra called on international institutions to carry out urgent interventions to save the lives of children, pregnant women, and the sick, and prevent the health, humanitarian, and psychological catastrophe in shelter centers.
The director of the Palestinian-Turkish Friendship Hospital in Gaza, Sobhi Skaik, also reported yesterday that there are 10,000 cancer patients in the Strip without medication, after the hospital was out of service as a result of the war.
Skaik said in a press conference, “After the hospital designated for cancer patients was forcibly removed from service, there are 10,000 cancer patients in dire and inhumane conditions.” He added, “They do not have any type of medicine to treat cancer in the Gaza Strip.”
In another context, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) confirmed yesterday that the number of its workers killed since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year reached 142 people.
UNRWA added in a press statement that “at least 314 displaced people taking refuge in the agency’s shelters have been killed and at least 1,129 others have been injured since the seventh of last October.”
She confirmed that the number of displaced persons reached 1.9 million, equivalent to 85% of the Palestinian population in various parts of the Gaza Strip, and some of them displaced several times in search of safety, noting that 1.79 million displaced persons receive aid from it.
She explained that there are approximately 1.4 million displaced people taking refuge in 155 facilities affiliated with UNRWA in all governorates of the Gaza Strip, and that about 400,000 others are close to those facilities and are receiving aid from the agency.