Amidst the Israeli siege, the WHO warns that disease might kill more people in Gaza than bombs.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that if the sanitation and health systems in the Gaza Strip are not fixed, more people may perish from illness than from bombardment. Since Israel began its airstrikes on Gaza on October 7, shortages of fuel and supplies, as well as deliberate attacks on hospitals and United Nations institutions, have severely damaged critical infrastructure across the beleaguered enclave. Margaret Harris, a WHO spokesperson, stated at a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday that "if we are not able to put back together this health system, eventually we will see more people dying from the disease than from bombardment." She expressed worry over the incarceration of part of the hospital's medical personnel by Israeli soldiers who had taken control of the facility earlier this month and called the collapse of al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza a "tragedy." She also expressed alarm once more about the increase in infectious illness epidemics in Gaza, especially those related to diarrhea.