World Health Body Delivers Its First Medical Aid To Gaza Since March 2
The World Health Organization said Thursday that it had delivered its first medical shipment into Gaza since March 2, adding though that the nine truckloads were "a drop in the ocean".
Wednesday's shipment of supplies, plasma and blood will be distributed among hospitals in the Palestinian territory in the coming days, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
Israel imposed a total blockade on the Gaza Strip on March 2. More than two months later, it began allowing some food in, but no other aid items until now.
Tedros said nine trucks carrying essential medical supplies, 2,000 units of blood and 1,500 units of plasma were delivered via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, "without any looting incident, despite the high-risk conditions along the route".
"These supplies will be distributed to priority hospitals in the coming days," Tedros said.
"The blood and plasma were delivered to Nasser Medical Complex's cold storage facility for onward distribution to hospitals facing critical shortages, amid a growing influx of injuries, many linked to incidents at food distribution sites."
Last week, the WHO said only 17 of Gaza's 36 hospitals were minimally to partially functional, with the rest unable to function at all.
Tedros said four WHO trucks were still at Kerem Shalom and more were on their way towards Gaza.
"However, these medical supplies are only a drop in the ocean. Aid at scale is essential to save lives," he said.
"WHO calls for the immediate, unimpeded and sustained delivery of health aid into Gaza through all possible routes."
Israel began allowing supplies to trickle in at the end of May following its more than two-month total blockade, but distribution has been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new US- and Israel-backed food distribution system, began handing out food in Gaza on May 26.
But the UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF -- an officially private effort with opaque funding -- over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
Israel is pressing its bombardment of the territory in a military offensive it says is aimed at defeating the militant group Hamas, whose unprecedented October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
3 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Israel kills 56 Palestinians, including 6 aid seekers; Spain condemns 'catastrophic genocide' in Gaza
Israel on Thursday killed at least 56 Palestinians, including 6 people who were waiting for aid at the distribution sites of the notorious Gaza Human Rights Foundation (GHF), an aid system backed by the US and operated by the Israeli military. According to Gaza's health ministry, Israel has killed more than 500 Palestinians at aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations last month. Rights groups and the UN has refused to cooperate with the GHF, slamming it as a "death trap" for Palestinians and accusing it of aiding Israel in its genocidal war in Gaza. The UN has condemned Israel's "weaponisation of food" against the Palestinians after a three-month-long blockade of humanitarian assistance, which was partially lifted only to replace the internationally established aid distribution systems with the GHF. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, called the GHF an "abomination" that has put Palestinians' lives at risk, while a spokesman for the UN human rights office, Thameen Al-Kheetan, condemned the "weaponisation of food" in the territory. Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday said Gaza was in a "catastrophic situation of genocide" and urged the European Union to immediately suspend its cooperation deal with Israel.
The Hindu
3 hours ago
- The Hindu
Vaccinating India: on zero-dose children
On the bright side, vaccine coverage globally, between 1980 and 2023, doubled for six diseases including measles, polio and tuberculosis. Also, at 75% globally, there has been a sharp fall in the number of zero-dose children — those who have not received the first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) vaccine — during the same time period. The number of zero-dose children is a crucial performance marker and an indicator of vaccination coverage inequities. Despite increased immunisation coverage over the decades, in 2023, at 1.44 million, India, according to The Lancet, still had the second largest number of zero-dose children, and is among the eight countries with over 50% of the nearly 16 million zero-dose children globally. Most of the zero-dose children globally are in countries that are conflict-affected or with limited resources for vaccination programmes — India has neither of the two problems. However, about 23 million babies were born in 2023 in India, the highest in the world; in 2024, China, which has the second highest number of newborns globally, reported just 9.5 million newborns. Though the number of zero-dose children is staggering, when seen in the context of the number of newborns in 2023, the percentage of zero-dose children in India is 6.2%. A study in 2021 found that India had sharply reduced the percentage of zero-dose children, from 33.4% in 1992 to 10.1% in 2016. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of zero-dose children was 1.4 million in 2019 but this swelled to 2.7 million in 2021 and then dropped to 1.1 million in 2022 before increasing to 1.44 million in 2023. As in the 2021 study, a large percentage of zero-dose children are in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat. There is also a relatively high proportion of them in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. Over the years, the difference in zero-dose children based on gender, caste, and rural-urban status has reduced substantially. However, prevalence remains high among the poor, mothers with low education, Scheduled Tribes and Muslims. Focus is needed to immunise children in hard-to-reach tribal areas, urban slums where there is a huge migrant population, and in reducing vaccine hesitancy among Muslim households with newborn children. India has much work to do to meet WHO's Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) — halving zero-dose children relative to 2019. With the number of zero-dose children in 2023 (1.44 million) only about nearly reaching the 2019 level of 1.4 million, India needs greater and sustained efforts to halve this number in the next five years.
NDTV
5 hours ago
- NDTV
World Health Body Delivers Its First Medical Aid To Gaza Since March 2
The World Health Organization said Thursday that it had delivered its first medical shipment into Gaza since March 2, adding though that the nine truckloads were "a drop in the ocean". Wednesday's shipment of supplies, plasma and blood will be distributed among hospitals in the Palestinian territory in the coming days, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X. Israel imposed a total blockade on the Gaza Strip on March 2. More than two months later, it began allowing some food in, but no other aid items until now. Tedros said nine trucks carrying essential medical supplies, 2,000 units of blood and 1,500 units of plasma were delivered via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, "without any looting incident, despite the high-risk conditions along the route". "These supplies will be distributed to priority hospitals in the coming days," Tedros said. "The blood and plasma were delivered to Nasser Medical Complex's cold storage facility for onward distribution to hospitals facing critical shortages, amid a growing influx of injuries, many linked to incidents at food distribution sites." Last week, the WHO said only 17 of Gaza's 36 hospitals were minimally to partially functional, with the rest unable to function at all. Tedros said four WHO trucks were still at Kerem Shalom and more were on their way towards Gaza. "However, these medical supplies are only a drop in the ocean. Aid at scale is essential to save lives," he said. "WHO calls for the immediate, unimpeded and sustained delivery of health aid into Gaza through all possible routes." Israel began allowing supplies to trickle in at the end of May following its more than two-month total blockade, but distribution has been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new US- and Israel-backed food distribution system, began handing out food in Gaza on May 26. But the UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF -- an officially private effort with opaque funding -- over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. Israel is pressing its bombardment of the territory in a military offensive it says is aimed at defeating the militant group Hamas, whose unprecedented October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.
