GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization said on Friday that medical supplies in Gaza were running critically low despite Israel’s reopening of a key crossing this week.
Supplies of some items such as gauze and needles have already run out, said WHO’s regional director Hanan Balkhy, citing information from the Health Ministry in Gaza, devastated by the two-year Israel-Hamas war.
“Stocks of essential medicines, trauma supplies and surgical consumables are critically low, and fuel shortages continue to limit hospital operations,” she said.
“The situation is difficult, and we will be running out of whatever is remaining.”
On Tuesday, the Israeli military agency that controls access to Gaza said it had reopened the Kerem Shalom border crossing “for the gradual entry of humanitarian aid”. It had closed entry points earlier citing missile threats from Iran amid an escalating air war after Israeli and U.S. forces attacked Iran on Saturday.
Some 18,000 people, including injured children and people with chronic diseases, are awaiting evacuation, according to the U.N. agency.
