WHO calls for humanitarian corridor into Gaza following Israel’s blockade

 

GENEVA – World Health Organization (WHO) has called for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to bring “critical medical supplies” into Gaza, the organization’s spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said, stressing that stocks of essential supplies in the seven largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip have run out.

“WHO is calling for an end to the violence… a humanitarian corridor is needed to reach people with critical medical supplies,” WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told a press briefing in Geneva.

The seven largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip have now run out of supplies, he said. WHO will allocate $1 million to purchase medical supplies, which will be enough to treat up to 500 patients. Jasarevic noted that as of October 9, WHO is aware of the deaths of six medical workers in Gaza. Four medics were injured. Eight health facilities and nine ambulances were damaged during the attacks.

The official representative of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Jens Larke said at a briefing that “four schools have been damaged in Gaza since Saturday.” More than 187,500 people have left their homes. “Further displacement is expected as fighting continues,” he stated.

Israeli authorities are limiting power to Gaza to three to four hours a day, Larke added. The only source of electricity left is the local power plant, which may run out of fuel in a few days.

The Israeli authorities’ decision to cut off the water supply affects more than 610,000 people in Gaza and will lead to “a severe shortage of already scarce drinkable water.” The official noted that Palestinian armed groups, for their part, fired thousands of missiles at Israel, with some of them hitting major population centers.