WHO board to hold emergency session on Gaza health situation

The World Health Organisation will hold an extraordinary session of its Executive Board on Sunday to discuss health conditions in the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, a document from the UN global health agency showed and Palestinian ambassador said.

According to Reuters, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus convened the session after receiving a request from 14 members of the WHO’s board, the WHO document said. A WHO spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Palestinian Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, said the meeting would focus mostly on Gaza but also cover attacks on the health sector in the West Bank.”We want to empower the WHO and call for the Israeli side not to target the medical sector. We want to allow for fresh medical supplies,” he told Reuters, saying that his diplomatic mission was drafting a motion to be reviewed by the 34-member board.

As a result of being targeted by Israel, many hospitals and medical centres in Gaza have ceased operating. Those still able to treat patients either have no surgery department or are working at over 200 per cent capacity, according to UN OCHA.

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