“People in Gaza are facing another danger: hepatitis A is spreading among children,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency assisting Palestinian refugees. UNRWA, wrote on social media.
Since the war began last October, UNRWA reception centres and clinics have reported 40,000 cases of the disease, he said, compared with just 85 in the same period before the conflict broke out, representing “a frightening increase”.
Hepatitis A is an inflammation of the liver caused by a virus of the same name. The disease is transmitted through eating contaminated food and water, or through direct contact with an infected person.
© UNRWA
The accumulation of waste poses a health hazard in Gaza.
Ideal conditions for disease
“Gaza’s waste management system has collapsed. Piles of garbage are piling up in the scorching summer heat. Sewage is dumped on the streets while people queue for hours to use the toilet,” Mr Lazzarini said. When combined, they create “a dangerous recipe for the spread of disease.”
Humanitarian workers are also preparing for the worst-case scenario of a polio outbreak after the recent discovery of the disease in sewage water samples.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier this week that while efforts are being made to obtain vaccines, it is not enough to just get them across the border.
WHO called for a ceasefire and at the very least, clear roads and safe access so partners can reach every person in Gaza with the needed vaccinations.
Access barriers
Meanwhile, humanitarian organizations continue to face obstacles to the delivery of aid, including ongoing hostilities, unexploded ordnance, damaged and impassable roads, attacks on aid convoys, a lack of public order and security, and a shortage of border crossings.
Israeli authorities also continue to impose restrictions on the entry of certain humanitarian supplies into the enclave.
“These factors continue to significantly hamper the access of aid to Gaza and the delivery of aid and basic services to hundreds of thousands of people in the Gaza Strip,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said (OCHA), said.
In July, Israel facilitated only 67 of 157 planned aid missions to northern Gaza, with the others “refused, obstructed or cancelled for security, logistical or operational reasons,” OCHA added.
‘Tragic and devastating milestone’
This week marked a “tragic and devastating milestone” for UNRWA, as the number of staff killed since the beginning of the war rose to 202, Mr Lazzarini said. said in a statement on Monday.
This is the highest number of UN staff killed in a single conflict since the organization was founded in 1945.
He said they included teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers, engineers, support staff, logistics workers and technology and communications workers.
Most “were killed in the homes of their families or in places they believed were safe,” while several lost their lives in the line of duty, providing humanitarian aid to people in need.
“I join the Secretary-General in calling for the UN to spare no effort to ensure accountability for the deaths of our personnel,” he said.
“In the coming weeks we will find several opportunities to mark this somber memory of our fallen colleagues.”
