Gaza, Iran Health Crises Deepen Despite Ceasefire
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- WHO reports more than 1,800 health facilities in Gaza have been partially or completely destroyed, ranging from major hospitals like Al Shifa to primary care clinics, pharmacies, and laboratories.
- WHO's new Occupied Palestinian Territories representative, Dr Reinhilde Van de Weerdt, said on her first visit to Gaza earlier this month that "nothing prepares you for the scale of the destruction" and that airstrikes, shelling, and gunfire continued despite the ceasefire.
- Gaza's displaced population faces a disease surge, with over 70,000 rodent-linked parasitic infections reported this year and more than 80% of displacement sites reporting skin infections such as scabies, lice, and bed bugs, the WHO said.
- UN Mine Action Service chief Julius Dirk Van Der Walt said teams have "barely scratched the surface" in assessing unexploded ordnance contamination in Gaza, calling it a "dynamic threat" as families return to damaged homes.
- IFRC's Cristhian Cortez Cardoza, speaking from Beirut after returning from Tehran, warned that Iran's health crisis will persist "for months and years to come," with hundreds of Iranian health facilities damaged or destroyed.
- The IFRC factory that supplies 60% of Iran's dialysis filters has only enough raw materials to continue production for the next three months, according to Cardoza.
- WHO says laboratory equipment and supplies needed to track diseases are being blocked from entering Gaza, leaving the agency "blind" to the full scope of the health threat.
Why it matters: The ceasefire has not ended the health emergencies: Gaza's 1,800+ destroyed health facilities and blocked medical supplies are fueling disease outbreaks among displaced families, while Iran faces a three-month countdown before 60% of its dialysis filter supply chain runs out of raw materials. Officials from both the WHO and IFRC insist that 'ceasefire' does not mean the crisis is over.
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