Conditions in Gaza are ripe for “epidemics and public health disaster,” UN warns

Gaza’s health system is “on its knees” as “mentally and physically exhausted” Palestinians face more violence after a seven day ceasefire ended between Hamas and Israel, the United Nations has said.

Lynn Hastings, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, warned in a statement that a “lack of clean drinking water, no proper sanitation, and poor nutrition” in Gaza were a “textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster.”1

The World Health Organization has said that infectious diseases are already on the rise in Gaza and that just 18 of 36 hospitals remain functional. Three of these can provide only basic first aid, and 15 are delivering a partial service.2

From 7 October to 28 November WHO recorded an “unprecedented number of attacks …