dpa
Geneva
At least 22,500 people in the embattled Gaza Strip require medical rehabilitation measures that could take years, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
According to an analysis by the Geneva-based WHO, the immense demand for therapies, prosthetics and walking aids cannot be adequately met.
“We urgently need assistance in the area of rehabilitation,” WHO representative Richard Peeperkorn said in a video call from the Gaza Strip.
“We cannot wait before there is a ceasefire and peace arrangement.” The figures cited by the WHO refer to severe injuries from the start of the war in the Gaza Strip nearly a year ago until July, accounting for roughly a quarter of all injuries during this time.
Most patients requiring rehabilitation have suffered limb injuries.
The WHO estimates that approximately 3,000 to 4,000 amputations have been performed since the beginning of the war.
Since December, the Gaza Strip has had no functioning facility for limb reconstruction and rehabilitation. According to the WHO, the shortage of essential materials and medical personnel has compounded the crisis.
Many specialists fled during the conflict, and dozens were reportedly killed.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 98,000 others injured since the start of the war according to the Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza.
The occupied Palestinian territories have experienced an unprecedented economic collapse due to Israeli military actions, according to a UN report released on Thursday.
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is “beyond catastrophic,” the UN has repeatedly said.
The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva said that in the last quarter of 2023 the Gaza Strip’s gross domestic product (GDP) “has plunged 81%, leaving its economy in ruins.”
This corresponds to a 22% decline for the entire year. This summer, the GDP is said to have been only one-sixth of what it was in 2022.
