‘Gaza has become a death zone’, World Health Organization director-general warns

As the official death toll from Israel’s Gaza genocide approaches 30,000 and hundreds of thousands face immediate risk of starvation, the World Health Organization (WHO) director-general says Gaza is no longer habitable. It warned that the area was not a “habitable place”. death zone. ”

At a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters that Israel continues to block the flow of humanitarian aid into the region and continues to attack Rafah, where the majority of the population lives. , said the situation is only going to get worse. They were forcibly relocated after months of Israeli attacks starting in the northern part of the region.

“Gaza has become a dead zone,” Tedros said. “Most of the territory was destroyed. More than 29,000 people were killed. Many more are missing and presumed dead. And many more are injured.”

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have killed at least 12,300 Palestinian children. According to official figures, more than 7,000 people are missing and 70,000 injured under the rubble.

Tedros’ labeling of Gaza as a “death zone” comes after United Nations humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said in January that Israel had made Gaza “uninhabitable” and that residents faced “a daily threat to their very survival.” This comes after warning that “we are witnessing this.”

Although the death toll so far has been mainly due to Israeli artillery and ground attacks, experts believe that the humanitarian crisis, concocted by Israeli authorities with the help of world powers such as the United States, will soon result in huge loss of life. I’m warning you that you will be attacked. At an even faster pace than the relentless bombing.

Particularly urgent is the need to combat famine in Israel, which famine experts say is the worst famine in modern times. This week, the Gaza government media office warned that more than 700,000 Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip, or about a third of Gaza’s population, are at risk of starvation.

UN officials have predicted an “explosion” of child deaths in Gaza due to the hunger crisis, with one in six children under the age of two affected, according to UNICEF, WHO and the World Food Program (WFP). They announced that they had given a clear warning that they were suffering from acute malnutrition. This week’s joint statement said: The agency added that more than 90 percent of children between the ages of six and 23 months face “severe food poverty.”

Tedros expressed concern at the fact that Israel’s campaign to dismantle and attack humanitarian aid across the region is forcing groups like WFP to suspend aid deliveries in the north. did. Recently, Israel has further tightened its crackdown on humanitarian aid. For example, earlier this month, Israeli forces allowed a convoy of 10 United Nations trucks carrying food into Gaza, then attacked the convoy and destroyed the food inside. CNN Report found.

Groups reported that the Israeli military targeted aid workers. Two Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) members were killed by Israeli forces in Khan Yunis on Tuesday, and other MSF workers and their families waited for hours to receive medical treatment after the shelling, as there was separate shelling in the area. Had to wait.

Israel’s killing of the workers prompted the United States to become the only vote in the UN Security Council to veto the Gaza ceasefire, supporting further Palestinian death, disease, starvation, and ethnic sacrifice in Gaza. It came on the same day that Israel refused to stop its genocide. cleansing.