Gaza Herald — The World Health Organization (WHO) representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, Reinhilde Van de Weerdt, warned that approximately 950,000 displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are living in areas vulnerable to flash floods and rainwater inundation, including 400,000 people trapped in high-risk zones.
Speaking online during the weekly United Nations press briefing in Geneva on Friday, Van de Weerdt sounded the alarm over rapidly deteriorating health and humanitarian conditions as winter approaches.
She stated that healthcare services across Gaza remain under intense attacks by Israeli occupation forces while the medical system is already operating far beyond its capacity, forcing the WHO and its partners to struggle to keep basic services running amid acute shortages of fuel and medical supplies.
Noting that the heavy rains over the past few days offered a stark preview of what awaits the besieged enclave in the coming months, even before winter has officially begun, she emphasized that “the worst is yet to come.”
Flooded Encampments and Surging Respiratory Illnesses
Van de Weerdt explained that WHO field teams spoke with displaced families whose tents were swept away by rainwater, stripping them of their sole remaining shelter and private space. She warned that raw sewage, solid waste, and contaminated floodwaters mixing with sleeping areas, food preparation spaces, and childcare zones inside submerged encampments drastically heighten the risk of severe infectious disease outbreaks.
Revealing alarming epidemiological figures, the WHO official reported that cases of acute respiratory infections have surged by approximately 33,000 compared to the same period last year, now accounting for 11 percent of all medical consultations across Gaza before winter has even formally started. Additionally, torrential rains have inflicted varying degrees of damage on roughly nine healthcare facilities while severing road access, preventing medical personnel from reaching their workplaces and blocking patients from accessing clinics.
Urgent Demands to Lift Siege on Shelter and Laboratory Supplies
Van de Weerdt demanded the immediate entry of weather-resistant tents, durable plastic sheeting, and tarpaulins, alongside essential materials required to secure clean drinking water and manage waste disposal. She further pointed out that rapidly identifying viruses and waterborne pathogens requires specialized laboratory equipment currently unavailable inside the territory due to Israeli blockade restrictions.
Calling for the immediate entry of laboratory diagnostic tools, medical devices, spare parts, power generators, engines, and fuel, she concluded that Gaza’s fourth consecutive winter under war and siege will once again push an exhausted healthcare system past its absolute breaking point, stressing that urgent international intervention should have begun months ago when United Nations agencies first warned of this impending catastrophe.
