The Israeli military offensive on Rafah is already having disastrous health consequences in the southern Gaza Strip and, if it continues, could cause a “substantial” increase in the death toll, a senior official warned on Tuesday. World Health Organization (WHO).
Since the start of the Israeli incursion into Rafah, access to health care in the city has been devastated, said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the Palestinian territories. He said around a million people were displaced by the incursion in the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip, leading to the closure of two of its three hospitals.
In detail, the Al-Najar hospital, the largest in the city, which accommodated 700 dialysis patients, had to close its doors, as did the Kuwaiti hospital. The Emirati maternity and pediatric hospital are now “barely functional”, underlines Rik Peeperkorn, indicating that they could no longer accept new patients. “If the Israeli incursion continues, we will lose the last hospital in Rafah,” he warned. If necessary, around 1.9 million people would be entirely dependent on field hospitals set up along the coast. “We expect a substantial increase in mortality and morbidity,” concludes the representative.