News / Palestine

Deaths of Gaza children ‘stain on all of humanity’: WHO chief

Sunday, 07 April 2024 6:01 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 08 April 2024 12:15 PM ]

A Palestinian child sells food items on a wheelchair in a market, ahead of Eid al-Fitr celebrations which conclude the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 7, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for an end to the Israeli regime’s ongoing genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, saying the high number of children casualties in the besieged territory “will remain a stain on all of humanity.”

“The deaths and grievous injuries of thousands of children in Gaza will remain a stain on all of humanity. This assault on present and future generations must end,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X on Sunday.

He also condemned as “inhumane and intolerable" the denial of basic needs by the Israeli regime, including food, fuel, sanitation, shelter, security and healthcare, stressing that the fact that over 70% of deaths in Gaza are women and children “should be a compelling reason to halt the war.”

The WHO chief further noted that the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas’ attack against the Israeli regime in early October last year does not justify the “horrific” ongoing bombardment and siege by Israel in Gaza.

He also reiterated his call for peace, while vowing to continue to serve health workers, patients and communities in Gaza.

The latest development comes a week after WHO reported that newborn mortality is rising sharply in Gaza as Israel has destroyed the besieged Palestinian territory's healthcare system.

WHO reports sharp rise in newborn deaths in Gaza

A growing number of children in Gaza are also dying of starvation and malnutrition.

Israel began the genocidal war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Since then, the regime has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured some 75,800 others. The regime has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

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