WHO, urges ceasefire after UN genocide report

GAZA, (The Palestinian Information Center) The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the commissioner-general of UNRWA have issued urgent appeals to the international community, warning of the catastrophic collapse of Gaza’s health system and calling for an immediate ceasefire in light of a United Nations report that found Israel guilty of genocide.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday that the ongoing military escalation and forced displacement orders by the Israeli occupation army were driving Gaza’s hospitals to the brink of collapse.

He described the situation as “inhumane,” stressing that relentless assaults and evacuations in northern Gaza are triggering new waves of displacement, pushing already traumatized families into ever-shrinking areas “unfit for human dignity.”

Tedros cautioned that health facilities, already under unbearable strain, are now facing complete breakdown.

Escalating violence, he added, has blocked the WHO from delivering vital medical supplies, while systematic targeting of hospitals and residential towers continues.

Since October 7, 2023, the occupation army has repeatedly struck healthcare facilities, forcing most hospitals out of service either partially or entirely, according to Palestinian and UN data.

Echoing these warnings, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini urged all UN member states to demand an immediate ceasefire and to ensure unhindered humanitarian operations, including those of UNRWA.

His appeal on Wednesday came a day after the release of a UN investigative report concluding that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.

Lazzarini noted that instead of cooperating with the UN, Israel banned and sidelined UNRWA, the main provider of humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

The UN report, he explained, highlighted how political and institutional measures, including the creation of the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” were deliberately designed to block trusted aid agencies like UNRWA from delivering life-saving assistance.

These measures, he warned, aimed to “bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza by imposing unlivable conditions.”

Since the start of the genocide campaign on October 7, 2023, carried out with US and Western backing, the Israeli war on Gaza has killed and wounded nearly 231,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

Both calls from the WHO and UNRWA underscore mounting international alarm over the accelerating collapse of Gaza’s humanitarian and health infrastructure, as the genocide enters its twenty-fourth consecutive month.