The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has led to intense fighting in Gaza’s Shejaiya area. The United Nations reports that the number of displaced people in Gaza has reached 1.9 million.
Hundreds of Palestinian patients were forced to flee the European Hospital, and tent camps in Khan Younis have been emptied following orders from the Israeli army for an immediate evacuation of eastern areas of Gaza’s second-largest city.
WHO’s Call for Aid: Hanan Balkhy, the World Health Organisation’s regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, has highlighted the insufficiency and unsustainability of current aid efforts. Balkhy stressed the need for increased safety and security for aid teams and the restoration of the dignity and rights of Gazans. She urged Member States to do more to initiate solutions for the political crisis and called for sustained humanitarian access and peace.
Balkhy’s comments came after meetings with the UN’s Middle East envoy, Tor Wennesland, and Muhannad Hadi, the UN’s regional humanitarian coordinator.