WHO Executive Board Retains Health Emergency Status in Occupied Palestine

JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board on Thursday decided to maintain the health emergency status in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, following a resolution passed by 27 of 34 members, reflecting international concern over the humanitarian and health crisis in Gaza.

Israel was the only member to oppose the move, while four members abstained and three members were absent.

The Council condemned repeated and immediate attacks on health facilities and medical personnel, describing them as a serious violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.

The resolution stresses the urgent need to immediately open safe and unhindered humanitarian corridors, ensure the delivery of medicines, medical supplies, and fuel, guarantee the free movement of ambulances and medical teams, and allow patients and injured - who number 18,500 according to the WHO - to access treatment outside Gaza, quoted from WAFA (6/2).

The resolution further reaffirms the commitment of the international community, through the WHO, to protect Palestinian civilians, uphold the right to health, and ensure the continuation of humanitarian operations without politicization or coercion.

The resolution comes amid an unprecedented humanitarian and health catastrophe in Gaza, where the ongoing offensive has caused widespread damage to hospitals, health centers, and ambulances, in addition to direct targeting of medical and humanitarian staff.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Representative of Palestine to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Ibrahim Khreisheh, praised the countries that supported the resolution, stressing the need for joint efforts by member states and the WHO to improve health conditions in Palestine.

Khreisheh highlighted a report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights which said 1,582 doctors and aid workers were killed by Israeli forces, along with 320 Palestinian prisoners who died of medical negligence.

He stated that maintaining the health emergency status was not a political choice but an urgent humanitarian need to ensure that WHO could continue its work in accordance with its charter and protect what remains of the Palestinian health system from total destruction, regardless of Israel's efforts to end the emergency status.

Khreisheh noted that Israel continues to target health and humanitarian infrastructure, and said that 95% of facilities have been partially or completely destroyed, and 37 aid organizations - including 22 in the health sector - have been prevented from carrying out their missions.