GENEVA: The World Health Organization warned on Friday that scorching heat in the Gaza Strip could exacerbate health problems for Palestinians displaced by Israeli bombardment and heavy fighting between its forces and Hamas. A daily "pause" the israeli military declared in Gaza to facilitate aid flows has had no impact on deliveries of badly needed supplies, the UN's health agency said on Friday.
The World Food Programme has warned that a massive public health crisis is looming in Gaza due to the lack of clean water, food and medical supplies.
"We've seen massive displacement over the last weeks and months, and we know that combination and the heat can cause a rise in diseases," said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO's representative for Gaza and the West Bank.
"We have water contamination because of hot water, and we will have much more food spoilage because of the high temperature. We will get insect mosquitoes and flies, dehydration, heat stroke." Extreme heat has killed hundreds worldwide as the northern hemisphere summer begins.
Peeperkorn said in Gaza, due to poor water and sanitation conditions, the number of cases of diarrhoea were 25 times higher than usual. Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery and hepatitis A, according to the WHO.
The WHO has been unable to carry out medical evacuations from Gaza since the closure of the Rafah crossing in early May. Peeperkorn said an estimated 10,000 patients still required medical evacuation from Gaza, half of whom are suffering from ailments related to the war.
Israel's air and ground offensive has killed more than 37,400 people in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory, according to health authorities there. "We did not see an impact on the humanitarian supplies coming in since that... unilateral announcement of this technical pause," said Peeperkorn.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned in a statement that "without a significant refill of medical supplies in the coming days" the NGO may have to "stop or drastically reduce some of its medical activities in Gaza".
Over the weekend, the israeli military announced a daily humanitarian "pause" in fighting on a key road in southern Gaza. Days later, however, a United Nations spokesman said "this has yet to translate into more aid reaching people in need".
According to the WHO, as of May 17, only 750 people remained in the city of Rafah. There were between 60,000 and 75,000 in the Al-Mawasi area in the south of the Gaza Strip, where many Palestinians have taken refuge since the start of the Israeli offensive in Rafah.
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