A smoke plume erupts during Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 12, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

The World Health Organization (WHO) says infectious diseases are spreading across the Gaza Strip amid the Israeli regime’s ongoing onslaught, creating additional problems for the besieged territory’s health system which is already on its knees.

Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, made the remarks in a press briefing on Tuesday, saying cases of impetigo, meningitis and jaundice have been recorded in Gaza in addition to the cases of chicken pox and upper respiratory tract infections.

There were already some 60,000 cases of diarrhoea in children under five and more than 160,000 cases of acute respiratory infections. Scabies, skin rashes, chicken pox and even meningitis are on the rise, alongside severe trauma and spinal injuries, Peeperkorn said.

He further noted that WHO is trying to set up mobile labs in Gaza to analyze samples for jaundice, adding that overcrowded shelters and the lack of proper sanitation are contributing to disease spread in the blockaded enclave.

Peeperkorn went on to say that health workers lack essentials and are completely preoccupied with the safety of their families.

The UN health agency official also stated that corridors are overflowing with trauma patients at Gaza’s Al-Ahli Hospital, adding that doctors are treating people on the floor there and fuel, oxygen, food and water are scarce.

He also explained that Al-Ahli Hospital is severely short-staffed, with over 200 patients but only enough resources to support 40.

Unable to perform vascular operations, staff are carrying out limb amputations as the last resort to save lives, he added.

According to Peeperkorn, in just 66 days of fighting, Gaza has been transformed from a reasonably functioning health system producing health indicators on par with neighboring countries to a situation where more than two-thirds of its 36 hospitals and over 70 percent of primary health care facilities are no longer operational.

He also stressed that it is crucial to make the primary healthcare system functional again and bring back maternal and child health, obstetric care, treatment for non-communicable diseases, oncology and mental health support among others.

The Israeli regime launched its devastating war on October 7 following a surprise operation by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have repeatedly targeted hospitals, along with residential buildings, mosques, and churches. Under the Geneva Convention, attacks on hospitals are strictly prohibited.

The occupying regime has also attacked ambulances carrying wounded patients in Gaza.

The Israeli aggression has so far killed almost 18,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The Tel Aviv regime has imposed a complete siege on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.