A draft resolution was presented by over a dozen World Health Organization member nations on Friday, urging Israel to uphold its legal commitments to protect humanitarian workers in Gaza.
Following an attack on southern Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 138 hostages, who are still being held captive, war broke out in Gaza.
The health ministry controlled by Hamas in the besieged Palestinian territory reports that 17,487 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel’s retaliatory air and military assault on Gaza, the majority of them were women and children.
At a special meeting of the WHO Executive Board on Sunday, the draft resolution’s wording is scheduled to be reviewed in relation to “the health situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
Bolivia, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen were among those who put out the proposal.
In addition to being signatories to the proposal, Palestinian officials are also WHO observers.
The member states expressed their “grave concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, especially the military operations in the Gaza Strip”.
They demanded that Israel “respect and protect” hospitals and other medical institutions, as well as medical and humanitarian personnel who are only engaged in performing medical activities.
Separately, Gaza’s health system was in dire straits and could not afford to lose even one hospital bed or another ambulance, according to WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, who spoke to reporters on Friday.
“The situation is getting more and more horrible by the day… beyond belief, literally,” he said.
The United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA said late on Thursday that only 14 of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip were functioning in any capacity.
