Disease could kill more in Gaza than bombs, WHO says amid Israeli siege

[Ohlalalalala]

Disease could kill more in Gaza than bombs, WHO says amid Israeli siege https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/28/disease-could-kill-more-in-gaza-than-bombs-who-says-amid-israeli-siege

Shattered healthcare and sanitation systems must be restored in Gaza, says World Health Organization.

UN official Tor Wennesland warned the humanitarian situation “remains catastrophic”.

Israeli bombardment has killed more than 14,800 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and more than 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave.

WHO says about 3/4 of Gaza hospitals shut down

Child diarrhoea cases about 100 times normal levels

Patients wait for hours on hospital floors, car parks

In figures deemed reliable by the United Nations, Gaza health authorities say more than 15,000 people have been confirmed killed in Israel's bombardment of the narrow enclave, around 40% of them children, with many more feared to be lost under rubble.

"Eventually we will see more people dying from disease than we are even seeing from the bombardment if we are not able to put back (together) this health system," the WHO's Margaret Harris said at a U.N. briefing in Geneva.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/more-people-risk-death-disease-than-bombings-gaza-who-2023-11-28/

Absolutely devastating 💔

Indeed 😔
I hope there'll be a ceasefire soon. They are living in inhuman conditions.

Yes and it was part of the plan “to make Gaza uninhabitable”, according to an article I shared from Israeli newspaper written a month ago.

There were two posters on here who kept insisting Israel has no choice but to “defend itself” in the manner they chose (targeting women and children and internationally recognised safe zones -though they used the disgusting propaganda line “human shields”, you know, Israel has no option but to blow up that school/ hospital/ refugee camp etc…) but I thought they might just not realise what they were supporting…

I shared that article and the subsequent report by a British Palestinian doctor working in Gaza that warned it was an intentional humanitarian catastrophe that will claim tens of thousands of lives… I asked for their thoughts. I really wanted to know if they realised what was happening, totally unconnected to getting rid of Hamas.

One replied saying she’d have a think, never replied afterwards. The other wrote about how Hamas had contacted other terrorist organisations asking for them to assist them. That was her reply. I remember she said she was “anti-war”… and yet she didn’t seem to blink when confronted with genocide.

I cannot express how disturbed I was. A reveal of the fact they kind of knew it was nothing to do with Hamas really. Somehow people have, over the past two months, gotten on board with the intentional killing of innocent civilians, women and little children using starvation, unclean water and epidemic spread as weapons of war in intentionally overpopulated camps.

Where do you go from there? When people confuse their utter lack of humanity for pragmatism, saying “oh well that’s war”, despite there being rules to war that this particular onslaught has violated so outrageously, and promises to continue doing so. What it is Hannah Arendt wrote… the banality of evil?

I am so so scared for those people in Gaza. God help them.

And then, all those denialists… they won’t believe the figures even from the nyt. I think deep down they know though.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/25/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-death-toll.html?fbclid=IwAR1c2VBJyCAbn1989bfQMFfxWzrtRlr-6-g6Asq5DSn3wxg273nnGlu7idU

I support Israel. I do realise not everyone on MN does, although the UK and US do of course too). Hamas started this and knew where it would end - every death lies at the door of Hamas terrorists. Hamas has no concerns for its own people and has put them in harm's way for years.

But they started it....You sound like a child

And stop saying the UK and US support Israel, when what you actually mean is the UK and US government. Its really bloody irritating

Just ignore her, you can’t reason with people who are blinded by their own prejudice.

I think this clip is a must watch though, a man whose parents were murdered on October 7th, talking with a Palestinian activist.

https://news.sky.com/video/israel-hamas-war-israeli-whose-parents-were-killed-by-hamas-and-palestinian-activist-come-together-in-pain-13018051#:~:text=Sky%20News-,Israel%2DHamas%20war%3A%20Israeli%20whose%20parents%20were%20killed%20by%20Hamas,at%203pm%20in%20central%20London.

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you."

Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil)

This was obviously part of the plan. I find it disgusting that they are trying so hard to push the Palestinian people out of their own land.

Why is Israel exempt from international law? I've lost all respect for this countries government. They don't stand for so many of us.

It's a humanitarian disaster. Even if a ceasefire happened now there will still be so many preventable deaths. Water borne diseases spread so quickly and need time and isolation to tail off. The infrastructure isn't going to be anywhere near sufficient for a long time 💔

I find it strange that people can laugh at the thought of these diseases affecting so many people. Young children are suffering and being killed inhumanely. It is so cruel. People are so cruel.

@Katy231

I know but that level of cruelty usually is indicative of something not being quite right so I don’t think you can blame them for it x

Honestly? I'm astonished we're not seeing significant numbers of deaths from cholera, typhoid and dysentry already. Now the weather's turning I'd also expect respiratory diseases to start spreading. It is all not good.

As of 11 hours ago the WHO reported there are more than 70,000 cases of acute respiratory infections recorded in Gaza, however this is most likely an underestimate.

@feralunderclass that's, what, 4% of the population? And, as you say, underreported. Plus presumably spreading like wildfire given most of the population is displaced and living in cramped conditions.

Does anyone know what the rates of childhood immunisations are like in Gaza? I'm thinking of the devastating impact an outbreak of something like measles could have...

@Motorina this article says uptake was approx 90% for childhood vaccinations pre conflict. Obviously it will be a very different story for the children born recently.

Father travels 8 miles in wheelchair to get baby vaccinated

This.
you can’t have a reasonable conversation with people like this, they can only see their side of the story.

Israeli govt could stop the diseases tomorrow, by allowing aid in. But they prefer to treat them as "human animals".

Israeli govt, show your humanity.

Completely agree. I do not want to be part of any society that sits back and allows another country to kill thousands of innocent children without impunity. It is horrific and those that are standing by cheering them on will find themselves on the wrong side of history soon enough, shame on you.
I am also really uncomfortable with the coverage over British tv and papers of the hostage releases, humanising them while at the same time dehumanising all the Palestinian innocent victims. They are all innocent people caught up in this disgusting depraved conflict, they all deserve our sympathies and horror at their plight, who are we to stand back and judge whose life is more important than another, the whole thing stinks. We should be remembering all victims, naming them, telling their stories because if we don't we will fall into the trap of believing a child's life is not important because of where they were born.

Yes also if you knew Israelis you would never want this for them. People trapped in a state of shock and trauma and who only know a propaganda I can’t say I expect too much of, but for those removed from the situation (as with the women here living in safety and comfort, however emotionally affected), it is a really dark state of being to see what is happening and actively endorse it.
I have people I love in Israel and I am so horrified this is the path their country is going down, there won’t be a way back. I wouldn’t wish for any people to become a nation that has all this murder on their hands, I can’t see how people think it will be for their good?

I would be skeptical about anything the WHO announces. They must have known that Hospitals were being used as military bases for a terrorist organisation and they said and did nothing. After this war i really hope they have to answer questions about their part in supporting Hamas to attack civilians and also to use resources meant for Gazans, as terrorist apparatus.

Now the WHO as well @eardefender .

Respect to the WHO and to the UN who call out war crimes and barbarity when they see them. No amount of smearing, distraction and so on will convince me any different.

Well said