WHO Chief: Israel kills a child every 10 minutes in Gaza Strip

A child is killed on average every 10 minutes in Gaza Strip, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the United Nations Security Council on Friday, warning: “Nowhere and no one is safe.”

He said that half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals and two-thirds of its primary healthcare centers were not functioning and those that were operating were way beyond their capacities, describing the healthcare system as being “on the verge of collapse”, Reuters reported.

“Hospital corridors crammed with the injured, the sick, the dying. Morgues overflowing. Surgery without anesthesia. Tens of thousands of displaced people sheltering at hospitals,” Tedros told the 15-member council.

“On average, a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza,” Tedros said.

Since Oct. 7, the WHO has verified more than 250 attacks on healthcare in Gaza and the West Bank which killed many innocent people.

Tedros urged the Security Council to provide Palestinian health workers and the people who they provide care for with healthcare means, including medicines, medical equipment or fuel for hospital generators. He stressed the need to increase humanitarian aid arriving through Rafah crossing, and reiterated calls by UN officials to ceasefire.

Hamda Mustafa