NEW YORK, (PIC)
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called on Wednesday for the health agency and its partners to be allowed to access the northern Gaza Strip to provide humanitarian aid.
Escalating violence in the north of Gaza has blocked humanitarian missions from reaching people with food and medical supplies. Meanwhile, health care continues to be attacked, Ghebreyesus said on X.
“We ask Israel to give WHO and our partners access to the north so we can reach those who desperately need aid,” he added.
Under international humanitarian law, all actors have a duty to ensure health care is protected and not attacked, he further said.
For his part, Rick Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, said that about 500,000 people in Gaza are facing catastrophic levels of hunger.
Peppercorn explained that animal husbandry activities in Gaza were affected by 60 percent.
He continued: “70 percent of the cultivated lands and 33 percent of the agricultural greenhouses were damaged. In fact, these places are no longer usable.”
