The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that Gaza faces an “imminent public health catastrophe,” amid overcrowding, mass displacement, and damage to the water and sanitation infrastructure as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression.

This comes as the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip confirmed that the countdown to the cessation of the main generators in both Al-Shifa and Indonesian Hospitals tomorrow, Wednesday, has begun, renewing its appeal to the Egyptian authorities to open the Rafah crossing in order to bring in aid and remove the wounded.

The Ministry also announced - through its spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra - that the occupation army targeted the Turkish Friendship Hospital this morning.

The Ministry of Health appealed to citizens to go to Gaza Strip hospitals to donate blood “urgently,” especially in light of the rise in the death toll and wounded from the Israeli bombing to 8,525 martyrs, including 3,542 children and 2,187 women.

Infant mortality

World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier warned of the risk of civilian deaths as an indirect result of Israeli bombing.

“An imminent public health catastrophe looms with mass displacement, overcrowding and damage to infrastructure,” he told reporters.

Asked whether people were dying from complications other than those caused by the bombing, Lindmeier said, "They do die."

The spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), James Elder, also warned of the risk of infant deaths due to drought rising with only 5% of the water supply available. He said, "Deaths of children, especially infants, due to drought pose an increasing threat," adding that children They get sick from drinking salt water.

He continued, that about 940 children are missing in Gaza, and some of them are believed to be under the rubble. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said - in a statement earlier today, Tuesday - that the water supply to southern Gaza stopped “for unknown reasons” yesterday, calling for permission to By bringing fuel into Gaza to operate the water desalination plant. Since the beginning of its aggression against Gaza on the seventh of this month, Israel has imposed a siege on the Strip and refuses to allow fuel supplies to enter on the grounds that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) may use it for military purposes.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies