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‘Disaster of epic proportions’
The war began when Hamas launched its Oct 7 attack, which resulted in about 1,140 people killed in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants also took around 250 hostages, 132 of whom Israel says remain in Gaza, including at least 25 believed to have been killed.
Israel responded with a relentless military campaign that the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says has killed more than 23,700 people, mostly women and children.
Only 15 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partially functioning, most of them in the south.
The UN has long described desperate scenes in the few barely functioning hospitals remaining in the north, facing severe shortages of food, clean water, medicines and fuel.
While the partial resumption of services at Al-Shifa was good news, Tedros emphasised that it meant “the consumption of fuel is much higher, and the need for medical supplies is increasing”.
Elmi meanwhile stressed the urgency of allowing more aid through, especially for Gaza’s children.
“Children in Gaza are running out of time, while most of the lifesaving humanitarian aid they desperately need remains stranded between insufficient access corridors and protracted layers of inspections,” she said.
“Mounting needs and a constrained response is a formula for a disaster of epic proportions.”
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