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- Israel's forced displacement of 85 percent of Gaza population has caused overcrowding in shelters and other temporary living facilities
GENEVA: The UN humanitarian office said on Wednesday that Gaza faced a public health disaster due to the collapse of its health system and the spread of disease amid an offensive by Israel that has hit hospitals and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
The United Nations and aid groups have sounded the alarm about the spread of infectious disease in Gaza, where the internal displacement of 85 percent of the population has caused overcrowding in shelters and other temporary living facilities.
Israel, which went to war in Gaza after the Palestinian enclave鈥檚 ruling Hamas militants launched a devastating attack on its southern communities on Oct. 7, has told civilians to flee battle zones and says it seeks avert humanitarian distress.
鈥淲e all know that the health care system is or has collapsed,鈥� said Lynn Hastings, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster.鈥�
WHO has reported a sharp rise in acute respiratory infections, diarrhea, lice, scabies and other fast-spreading diseases.
Hastings said people in Gaza had to line up for hours just to access a toilet.
鈥淵ou can imagine what the sanitation conditions are like,鈥� she said.
WHO said on Tuesday that only 11 of Gaza鈥檚 36 hospitals were partially functional, one in the north and 10 in the south of the enclave.
In Jerusalem, a senior Israeli lawmaker from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu鈥檚 Likud party, said field hospitals had been erected within Gaza by the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
鈥淲e offered every possible help (and) we are prepared to do more,鈥� Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Israeli parliament鈥檚 Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told Reuters.
鈥淏ut one thing has to be clear. There is overlapping between medical system and hospitals and Hamas terrorist activities,鈥� he said, reiterating Israeli allegations 鈥� denied by Hamas 鈥� that the Palestinian militants have been operating within hospitals.
鈥淪o this is not something that we will tolerate.鈥�
Hasting said that almost half of Gaza鈥檚 population of 2.3 million was now in Rafah in the southern tip of the enclave to escape Israeli bombardment.
鈥淭his is leading to nothing but a health crisis,鈥� she said. (Reporting by Gabrielle T茅trault-Farber, Editing by Kirsti Knolle and Angus MacSwan)