Rafah's Sole Hospital on the Brink: WHO Warns of Humanitarian Crisis

A WHO official has warned that Israel’s potential full incursion into Rafah, Gaza, could render the last functioning hospital non-operational, leading to a significant rise in deaths. The representative emphasized that contingency plans would not suffice to prevent the humanitarian crisis.

A World Health Organization official said on Tuesday the last hospital in Rafah could become non-functional and a substantial number of deaths could be expected if Israel launches a "full incursion" into the southern Gazan city. "If the incursion would continue, we would lose the last hospital in Rafah," Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank, said on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

He said that in the case of a "full incursion", the "contingency plan" "will not prevent what we expect: substantial additional mortality and morbidity."