WHO Warns of Devastating Consequences as Aid Delays Plague Gaza

Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid wait at the Rafah crossing for access to the Gaza Strip. Repeated delays in bringing life-saving medicines, prosthetics, and other supplies from Israel into Gaza risk having “devastating consequences” for Palestinians who urgently need them, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

Approved aid can enter Gaza only through Kerem Shalom, at the southern tip of the territory, while Rafah, also in the south, is open only for limited movement of people, including patients needing medical treatment abroad, the WHO said on Friday.

“A truck full of non-priority supplies or the right supplies arriving too late, doesn’t save lives. That’s the question that actually matters,” Reinhilde Van De Weerdt, the WHO’s representative in Palestine, said.

Van De Weerdt called on Israeli authorities to “release the pressure on medical supplies”, saying essential medicines “should not be considered as dual use, as they are globally accepted standards on medical items anybody needs anywhere to run a hospital or a clinic”. She added that one shipment of prosthetics and assistive devices had been rejected four times over the past six months.

“Every rejection means another delay for someone who has already lost a limb and is simply waiting for the chance to walk again,” she said, noting that medicines “by contrast, move relatively well”, with almost 87 percent approved and just over 1 percent rejected.

“Our ask is simple and has not changed: we need the unimpeded and predictable entry of humanitarian and health supplies into Gaza at scale. We also need a multi-crossing model so that aid isn’t forced to trickle down through a limited number of crossings,” Van De Weerdt said.

Four other main entry points into Gaza – Kissufim, Gate 96, Erez and Erez West – remain closed and under total Israeli control. She praised the “extraordinary health workers” still risking their lives in Gaza, who she said were not receiving enough supplies to give patients the care they needed.

As winter begins, this urgency to get supplies into Gaza only deepens, according to Van De Weerdt, with almost two million people in need of shelter to protect against the cold and the risk of flooding, exposing people to serious health and safety risks. Residents also face heightened risks of preventable disease outbreaks linked to a lack of safe shelter, clean water, and an influx of rats whose bites transmit infection.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned of serious public health risks from the accumulation of solid waste in Gaza City, noting that the humanitarian situation remains overwhelming amid continuing Israeli air attacks and military activity.