(NewsNation) — The World Health Organization (WHO) is sounding alarms over a “humanitarian and public health catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip, where civilians are packing into crowded shelters and resources are dwindling.
The situation in Gaza is growing dire as Palestinians experience mass displacement while the region is simultaneously running low on fuel to power hospital generators and desalination plants. Nearly half the region’s hospitals are no longer functioning, air strikes have taken out ambulances, and supplies of clean water are running low, according to the United Nations.
One month has passed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Despite Israel Defense Forces reports of safe zones to the north, the UN and WHO say nowhere in Gaza is safe.
“Hospital directors and health workers are now facing an agonizing choice: Abandon critically ill patients amid a bombing campaign, put their own lives at risk while remaining on-site to treat patients, or endanger their patients’ lives while attempting to transport them to facilities that have no capacity to receive them,” the WHO wrote in an official statement.
UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools in Gaza are housing 4,500 people per facility — about three times over capacity — Bill Deere, a congressional advisor to UNRWA’s Washington, D.C. office, said on “NewsNation Now” with Connell McShane.
Several cases of acute respiratory infections, diarrhea and chicken pox have been reported at the shelters.
Meanwhile, more than 100 attacks have directly impacted healthcare in Gaza, killing or injuring nearly 1,000 people as of Nov. 4, according to the WHO.
More than 23,000 people have been injured in Gaza since Oct. 7. As of this week, 14 of the region’s 35 hospitals are no longer functioning.
Those who are uninjured are at risk for other complications from dwindling reserves of basic necessities that could last mere days, Deere said. Some in Gaza are “down to just a couple pieces of bread a day,” he added.
“We’re running out of food,” Deere said. “We’re running out of water. We’re running out of fuel.”
The water in Gaza is salty and brackish. Without the means for proper desalination, people have resorted to drinking unsafe ground and tap water that is contaminated with sewage and creates a risk of waterborne disease, the UN warned.
“What is needed is a couple things — not just that the aide arrive, but that there be a humanitarian pause so that we can deploy the aide to people in need,” Deere said.
UNRWA is supplying what fuel it can to hospitals, bakeries, desalination plants and their own operations, but meeting Gaza’s needs with rations of fuel is increasingly challenging, Deere said.
“Frankly, the rationing gets a little more radical every day,” he said.