WHO concerned following raid on North Gaza hospital

Patients are being transferred between hospitals as part of a two-day mission amid hostilities and access restrictions in Gaza.

Hospital staff ‘completely overwhelmed’

Dr. Peeperkorn provided an eyewitness account of what he had seen.

At a checkpoint close to Kamal Adwan, there were “thousands of women and children leaving the area, walking, limping, with their few belongings towards Salah al-Din and, actually, towards Gaza City,” he said.

“We saw very few men or adolescent boys,” he continued. “We saw men being screened.”

At Kamal Adwan, the team “saw mayhem and chaos” , he said, noting that during his last visit on 21 and 22 October, 75 to 100 patients were at the facility.

“Now, there were probably more than 200 patients. The emergency ward was overflowing, and we saw numerous patients being brought in…horrific trauma patients.”

Meanwhile, staff are “completely overwhelmed” and “also very much underequipped to deal with that.”

Dr. Peeperkorn noted that Kamal Adwan is one of two hospitals in the north that WHO defined as being “minimum functional”. He understood that the other facility, Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, is very isolated and barely functioning. 

Polio campaign halted

The WHO official also updated journalists on the massive UN-run polio campaign in Gaza, which was postponed in the north this week.

Children there were to be vaccinated with a second dose of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2, following a first round conducted last month.

He said that to interrupt poliovirus transmission “at least 90 per cent of all children in every community and neighbourhood must be vaccinated”.

The campaign has already reached some 452,000 children in the centre and the south, which he called a “huge achievement”.

The north is “the last lap”, however escalating violence, intense bombardment, displacement orders and lack of assured humanitarian pauses have forced the campaign to be delayed.

“We want to cover these 119,000 children in the north as well, as we did in the first round,” Dr. Peeperkorn said, stressing the need for “access to all children, wherever they are, to make sure that you get to this 90 per cent coverage”.

He insisted that “we are almost there”, adding that “we still have good hopes that we can do this campaign.”  

Humanitarian situation deteriorating

Meanwhile, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said the humanitarian crisis in North Gaza is rapidly worsening and essentials are in extremely short supply.   

Moreover, most attempts to deliver critical assistance continue to be denied or impeded, with the Israeli authorities once again refusing permission for essential food and water supplies to be delivered to Jabalya that day.

OCHA warned that intense hostilities persist across the Gaza Strip, including the south.   

Overnight, an Israeli raid on multiple neighbourhoods of Khan Younis left scores dead and many more injured, including numerous women and children.  

During the operation, families sought safety in An Nasser hospital, a UN-run school, and the Al Mawasi area, with most returning home after Israeli forces withdrew.  

“Reports indicate widespread damage to homes, leaving people in urgent need of tents, tarpaulins to cover damaged shelters, hot meals, and clean water,” the agency said.  

Turning to the West Bank, OCHA reported that this month alone, more than 100 incidents linked to Israeli settlers have led to Palestinian casualties and property damage. 

Overall, there were some 180 settler-related incidents in almost 90 Palestinian communities, with more than half involving the olive harvest season.