WHO Warns Diseases Could Cause More Deaths In Gaza Than Bombs

The atmosphere around hospitals in Gaza (Source: WHO)

JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO), the number of those who died from the disease could be more than those caused by the bomb, except for health services in the enclave affected by the Israeli Hamas conflict.

"In the end, we're going to see more people die of illness than from the bombings, if we can't recover this health system," said Margaret Harris of WHO, as reported by The National News November 28.

He described the collapse of Al Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza as a "tragedy" and voiced concern about the detention of some of his medical staff by Israeli forces.

The hospital was surrounded and later invaded by the Israeli military, which claimed that Hamas militants used it as headquarters. This was denied by hospital officials.

Officials said hundreds of people died in the hospital. Most staff, patients, and refugees at the hospital were asked to leave.

Separately, Gaza authorities said the death toll of Palestinians from the Hamas-Israeli conflict had been more than 15,000, as quoted by Anadolu.

In a statement, Gaza-based Government Media Office said the death toll included 6,150 children and 4,000 women. He added that there were about 7,000 people missing under the rubble, including 4,700 children and women.

Meanwhile, more than 36,000 other Palestinians were also injured, 75 percent of whom were children and women, the office added.

Israel is known to have launched bombings, blockades and later ground attacks on Gaza, after a militant group Hamas attacked the southern region of the country on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and about 240 people being held hostage.