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Only 12 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals and 22 of its 88 primary health facilities are “partially functional”, the UN health agency said.”As part of contingency efforts, WHO and partners are urgently working to restore and resuscitate health services,” the statement said.It added that Rafah’s three currently operational hospitals would become unreachable “when hostilities intensify in their vicinity”.Instead, the WHO is working to restore south Gaza’s largest hospital, the Nasser Medical Complex in nearby Khan Yunis, and establish additional medical sites.”The ailing health system will not be able to withstand the potential scale of devastation that the incursion will cause,” Peeperkorn said.A military operation in Rafah could spark a new wave of displacement, leading to more overcrowding, limited access to food, water and sanitation and more outbreaks of disease, he added.In its statement, the WHO called “for an immediate and lasting ceasefire and the removal of the obstacles to the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance into and across Gaza, at the scale that is required.”Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, said that a military operation in Rafah “could lead to a slaughter”.”For agencies already struggling to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, a ground invasion would strike a disastrous blow,” he told reporters.”Any ground operation would mean more suffering and death.”
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Rafah assault ‘could lead to a bloodbath’: WHO chief
