WHO: Two Million Starving in Gaza While 116,000 Tons of Food Blocked at Border
The deliberate restriction, along with military escalation, forced evacuations, and bans on aid deliveries, has resulted in numerous civilian casualties, all while Gaza’s health system has collapsed
Palestine, PUREWILAYAH.COM - Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has issued a stark warning about the growing threat of famine in the Gaza Strip, directly attributing it to the ongoing and suffocating Israeli blockade.
He emphasized that two million people are facing starvation, while a staggering 116,000 tons of food aid remains blocked at the border, deliberately prevented from reaching the besieged population.
His remarks were delivered on Monday, during the opening of the 78th session of the World Health Assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland, which serves as the highest decision-making body within the WHO.
Gaza Blockade: A Man-Made Humanitarian Catastrophe
“In the two months since Israel imposed its latest blockade on Gaza, the humanitarian situation has sharply deteriorated,” Tedros said. “Two million people are suffering from hunger, while 116,000 tons of food are being held at the border.
The ongoing blockade is deliberately obstructing the entry of humanitarian aid, including life-saving food supplies.”
He underlined that this deliberate restriction, along with military escalation, forced evacuations, and bans on aid deliveries, has resulted in numerous civilian casualties, all while Gaza’s health system has collapsed and is unable to respond to the scale of the crisis.
Gaza’s Healthcare on the Brink
Despite the devastation, Tedros did note a rare success: the WHO managed to prevent the spread of polio in Gaza through a targeted vaccination campaign, showcasing the impact that even limited humanitarian interventions can have when permitted. Nevertheless, he warned that unless the blockade is lifted and unrestricted humanitarian access is restored, famine is inevitable, and preventable diseases will continue to spread unchecked.
WHO Assembly: International Inaction Under Scrutiny
The warning came at a time when the world’s attention was focused on Geneva, where the 78th World Health Assembly convened at the United Nations Office.
During the opening session, Philippine Health Minister Teodoro Javier Herpes was elected President of the Assembly, tasked with leading discussions on global health priorities.
Yet even as member states gathered under the banner of global health cooperation, Tedros’s address served as a sobering reminder of the politicization of humanitarian aid and the moral collapse of the international community in responding to Gaza’s plight.
Genocide in Gaza: The Health Crisis Behind the Numbers
Since October 7, 2023, Israel—with unconditional support from the United States—has waged an all-out war on the Gaza Strip that experts and observers increasingly identify as genocide.
The toll is catastrophic: over 174,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded, the majority of them children and women. More than 11,000 remain missing, and hundreds of thousands have been forcibly displaced, many multiple times.
The blockade, combined with continuous aerial bombardment and ground operations, has not only destroyed civilian infrastructure, but has deliberately targeted Gaza’s healthcare system, ensuring that even those who survive the bombings face deadly shortages of medicine, surgical supplies, electricity, and clean water.
A Call for Urgent Action
Tedros’s warning is not just a medical assessment—it is a moral indictment. The deliberate use of hunger as a weapon of war, and the intentional destruction of healthcare services, amount to violations of international humanitarian law.
The global community, through the platform of the World Health Assembly and beyond, is being called upon to act—not with statements, but with urgent and decisive intervention to prevent the starvation of two million civilians and to end a war that has already taken far too many lives. (PW)
Source: Palinfo