Health leaders have been urged to speak out and push for a ceasefire in Gaza, as latest reports indicate that at least 2,360 children have been killed there since 7 October as a result of Israeli bombing that has also devastated health and support services.
Public health leader Professor Fran Baum has called for all possible diplomatic pressure to be put on Israel to stop the bombing.
“Discuss the plight of Palestine in your homes, workplaces and communities. It won’t always be an easy conversation but at least you are telling everyone about it. Millions more people around the world are also speaking out as they march in support of Palestine in so many countries in the world,” she said.
The People’s Health Movement is drafting a statement that will call on people around the world to organise and express their solidarity to Palestine and pressure for a ceasefire and an end to the siege of Gaza, Baum told Croakey.
“We will also call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions in relation to Israeli goods and institutions, including cultural and academic institutions by individuals, organisations and governments,” Baum said. “Palestinians have long suffered badly from the occupation of their lands with impacts on physical and mental health. But what is happening now to Palestine is quite literally beyond belief.”
UNRWA, the largest aid agency in the Gaza Strip, has warned that it will be forced to significantly reduce and in some cases halt its humanitarian operations if fuel is not allowed into Gaza. “The coming 24 hours are very critical,” the agency said.
According to MSF, with Gaza’s electricity supply from Israel cut, hospitals are being powered by back-up generators. Fuel reserves are running out, paralysing ambulance services. The small amount of aid allowed to enter Gaza so far has not included fuel to replenish the dwindling stock. If generators at Gaza’s hospitals run out of fuel, a lack of electricity will mean that intensive care and neonatal units will stop working.
In a 25 October statement, the World Health Organization said that in addition to the hospitals that have had to close due to damage and attacks, six hospitals across the Gaza Strip have already shut down due to lack of fuel.
“Unless vital fuel and additional health supplies are urgently delivered into Gaza, thousands of vulnerable patients risk death or medical complications as critical services shut down due to lack of power. These include 1000 patients dependent on dialysis, 130 premature babies who need a range of care, and patients in intensive care or requiring surgery who depend on a stable and uninterrupted supply of electricity to stay alive,” the WHO said.
In a 25 October statement, UNICEF called for a ceasefire and the urgent opening of all access crossings into Gaza to enable fuel deliveries. “Fuel means safe water. Fuel means functioning health facilities. And it is desperately needed in Gaza to operate hospitals, desalination plants and water pumping stations.”
Rising toll
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 5,791 people have been killed since 7 October, including 2,360 children, 1,292 women, 295 elderly, and 16,298 were injured. This is in addition to the 1,550 reported missing, presumably under the rubble of destroyed buildings, including 870 children.
A 25 October situation report by UNRWA, the largest aid agency in the Gaza Strip, says that overall, nearly 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed in Israel, according to the Israeli authorities, the vast majority on 7 October. In the West Bank, 95 people have been killed and nearly 1,900 injured since 7 October.
A 24 October report by The New Humanitarian says in Gaza at least 46 healthcare workers have been killed and 85 injured in deadly airstrikes since Israel began its response to the brutal attacks by Hamas on 7 October.
Hospitals across Gaza are now without stable electricity, fuel, medical supplies, and equipment. Thousands of patients in need of critical care are lying in crowded hospital corridors.
The report says Israel’s ongoing military assault is on the brink of destroying Gaza’s healthcare system, “threatening to create a public health disaster that will last long after the bombs stop falling and contribute to significantly more deaths”.
“Gaza has become the most dangerous place on Earth to practise medicine. No one knows how long the hostilities will last, how much more damage will be done, or what the situation in Gaza will look like when they cease,” says The New Humanitarian.
“But healthcare workers have the right to be able to care for people without the fear of being killed, and the international community must start planning now to quickly rebuild Gaza’s health system as soon as the current fighting ends.
“What we are witnessing now in Gaza seems no different from the horrific attacks by Russian and Syrian forces over the last 10 years against civilians and medical infrastructure in Syria, which have been repeatedly and widely condemned.”
MSF says the situation in Gaza has been described by its teams as ‘horrific’ and ‘catastrophic’. Hospitals and clinics – the ones that are running – are overwhelmed and are barely functioning, running out of electricity and medical supplies. Surgeons in Al-Shifa hospital are now operating without painkillers.
MSF says the bombing of Gaza is relentless. People have been killed while forced to move to look for safety, including family members of our colleagues. People are trapped; those who wish to leave are unable to do so.
In the last 24 hours another three UNRWA staff members have been killed, bringing the total to 38 staff killed since 7 October. Many journalists have also been killed.
The wife, son, daughter and grandson of Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera Arabic’s bureau chief in Gaza, have been killed in an Israeli air raid, reports Al Jazeera (25 October).
The graphic below shows UNRWA responses, dated 25 October.
WHO statement on hostages
In a 25 October statement, the World Health Organization reiterated its call for the urgent release of hostages, approximately 200 people, including health workers and up to 30 children, abducted from Israel by Hamas and other armed groups on 7 October.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the call following discussions with an Israeli non-governmental organization, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, that represents families of the abducted people.
“We met today with families of people abducted from southern Israel on 7 October and heard firsthand the tragedy, trauma and suffering they are facing,” said Dr Tedros. “There is an urgent need for the captors of the hostages to provide signs of life, proof of provision of health care and the immediate release, on humanitarian and health grounds, of all those abducted.”
“Many of the hostages, including children, women and the elderly, have pre-existing health conditions requiring urgent and sustained care and treatment. The mental health trauma that the abducted, and the families, are facing is acute and psychosocial support is of great importance.”
Dr Tedros said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) should be granted immediate access to the hostages to understand their health status.
From X/Twitter
Further reading
Joint statement by UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP and WHO on humanitarian supplies crossing into Gaza, 21 October: “Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities. It is now catastrophic. The world must do more.”
BMJ: Violence in Palestine demands immediate resolution of its settler colonial root causes
Time: What Aid Groups Say Gaza Needs
The New Humanitarian: The international community must respond to Gaza’s health catastrophe
*** This post was updated with additional links after initial publication ***
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