GENEVA: Hospitals in Gaza are being prevented from functioning properly due to a severe shortage of medical supplies, the World Health Organization warned on Friday, denouncing Israeli restrictions on essential items.
Reinhilde Van de Weerdt, the WHO's representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, said most of the hospitals and primary healthcare centres in the Gaza Strip were only partially operational, while none of the hospitals were fully functional.
"One of the key reasons these facilities are not functioning is because they are struggling with critical shortages of medical supplies," she told a press conference in Geneva.
She said part of the problem is Israel blocking the entry of items it argues are "dual use" -- items which could potentially be used for a military purpose.
"WHO has internationally recognised lists of essential medicines. That is what we are talking about," said Van der Weerdt.
"Essential medicines, essential supplies are essential.
"There should be no bureaucratic processes and access restrictions."
She gave multiple examples of medical equipment being held up, including a prefabricated hospital that has sat "waiting for months" in Jordan.
Without laboratory equipment, "we cannot diagnose diseases and detect potential disease outbreaks", she said.
"Without oxygen concentrators, let's just be honest -- there are critically ill patients that die."
A shaky ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas officially came into effect on October 10, 2025.
The first phase of the truce saw the release of the last Israeli hostages seized in October 2023 in exchange for some Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
But Israeli strikes continue. The Israeli military and Hamas accuse one another of violating the truce.
Van de Weerdt said that despite the ceasefire, at least 880 Palestinians had been killed and more than 2,600 wounded since it was declared.
The WHO has documented 22 Israeli attacks on healthcare in Gaza this year.
She said that more than 43,000 people in Gaza have life-changing injuries from the conflict, 10,000 of them are children.
"They require long-term rehabilitation, prosthetics and assistive devices, many of which face delays and restrictions on entry.
"What we manage to get in barely scratches the surface of what is needed," she said.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in November 2025 endorsing the US-backed peace plan, which called for the full resumption of humanitarian aid.
