Meanwhile, in Iran, concerns are growing over shortages of essential medical supplies due to Israeli-US bombing ahead of President Trump’s announcement of an extended ceasefire on Wednesday.
“The ceasefire announced earlier this month was a welcome relief. However, the ground reality is very different.” said Cristian Cortez Cardoza, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at the UN-partner International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Speaking from Beirut after returning from Tehran, Mr Cardoza stressed that “the ceasefire does not mean the conflict is over”. The consequences of weeks of “intense conflict” will continue to be felt by Iranian society “for months and years to come,” he said.
IFRC official reports hundreds of Iranian health facilities damaged or destroyed There is growing concern about potential shortages of medical access and key servicesSuch as dialysis machines and artificial instruments, due to the destruction of manufacturing.
Due to the war, the IFRC factory that supplies 60 percent of the country’s dialysis filters He has enough raw material to continue production for the next three months.
Gaza destruction
Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza remains precarious, with more than 1,800 health facilities partially or completely destroyed, according to the UN World Health Organization.Who).
“This includes everything from large hospitals like Al Shifa in Gaza City to small primary health care centres, clinics, pharmacies and laboratories,” said Dr Reinhilde Van de Weerdt, the agency’s new representative in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Speaking from Jerusalem, Dr. van de Weerdt reported on his first visit to Gaza as the new WHO representative.
“I spent my first week in Gaza earlier this month. And nothing really prepares you for the scale of the destruction. You can read the reports, study the numbers, but there is something different about standing in the middle of a pile of debris countless meters high on the road.“
Tents, Debris and Rats
The veteran humanitarian said that throughout Gaza, the majority of Palestinian families are displaced. “They live in tents amid the debris, dependent on humanitarian aid for their most basic needs. And despite the ceasefire, airstrikes, shelling and shelling continued.”
In addition to those threats, there have been more than 17,000 cases of rodent-linked infections so far this year among Gaza’s displaced people and even more. 80 percent of displacement sites report skin infections, such as scabies, lice and bedbugs – “This is an unfortunate but predictable outcome when people live in collapsing living environments,” the WHO official said.
“For WHO and health partners, we need to have a better understanding on the diseases affecting people in Gaza. So we need laboratory equipment and supplies to enter Gaza. As many of you know, these equipment and supplies do not enter Gaza, which leaves us blindsided.”
“Things need to change” to tackle this growing health threat, Dr. Van de Weerdt stressed. “The need to protect health and health workers; Essential medicines and supplies must enter Gaza. Bureaucratic processes and access restrictions on these globally recognized essential medicines and supplies must be removed.
‘dynamic threat’
Echoing that message, the head of UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) underlined the ever-present threat from unexploded ordnance in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Julius Dirk van der Walt, head of UNMAS at the OPT, said the lethal threat is now “essentially contained or embedded in the debris at this point.”
“We have barely scratched the surface of the level of pollution we will face in Gaza,” he continued.
“What we do know is that it will be a dynamic threat… You will have families returning to their homes; a father will probably enter the house, find a handgun, and take that away from his children.”
