The Executive Board of the World Health Organisation (WHO), headed by the State of Qatar, represented by HE the Minister of Public Health and Chair of the WHO Board, Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari, held a session to discuss the organisation's work in the field of health emergencies, including the draft resolution on health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.
The session was held during the meetings of the 154th session of the organisation's Executive Board currently held in Geneva, which adopted the draft resolution submitted by Qatar and several of its member states.
Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in his speech during the session that the situation in Gaza has worsened since the special session of the organization's Executive Board was held last December, indicating the organization's conviction that the time has long come to implement a ceasefire, especially that no one is safe anywhere in Gaza.
So far, more than 26,000 people have been killed, in addition to 8,000 missing, and more than 64,000 wounded, while the total number of victims has reached about 100,000 people, 70% of whom are women and children. The number of displaced people reached 1.7mn people.
He pointed out that this number alone justifies the ceasefire, stressing that the number of deaths will increase not only due to injuries, but also due to chronic diseases, as medicines do not reach the majority of infected patients.
He stressed that Gaza is witnessing a shortage of medicine and food to the point of starvation for some families, in addition to the deterioration of health facilities as a result of 16 hospitals out of the total 36 hospitals in Gaza operating partially. He said in this context that if there is a serious desire to reach a solution, it is always possible, but what's lacking is the will... and from his experience, he knows that war does not bring solutions, but rather leads to more wars, hatred, destruction and suffering.
In his speech, Ghebreyesus called for choosing peace and finding a political solution to this issue in accordance with the principle of the two-state solution, indicating that when this is achieved, the war will end, and a peaceful solution to the Palestinian issue will be reached.
The current meetings of the Executive Council will discuss the report of the Director-General of the WHO on health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.
