The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday condemned the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, with a senior official expressing outrage at the international community’s failure to stop the suffering.
Speaking in Geneva, WHO emergencies director Dr. Mike Ryan denounced the devastation, especially among children. “We are breaking the bodies and the minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza,” he said. “If we don’t do something about it, we are complicit in what is happening.”
Ryan questioned how much more violence the world would tolerate. “How much blood is enough to satisfy whatever the political objectives are?” he asked, calling the situation “an abomination.”
Israel has maintained a strict blockade on Gaza, controlling all aid deliveries to the 2.4 million residents. Aid was halted entirely on March 2, days before a ceasefire collapsed. Since then, the humanitarian crisis has intensified, with the UN repeatedly warning of looming famine.
The World Food Programme said last Friday that it had distributed its final food stocks, and supplies are now nearly exhausted.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, 2,326 people have been killed since Israel resumed airstrikes, bringing the total death toll to 52,418 since the conflict began in October 2023. The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, which killed 1,218 people, mostly civilians, and saw 251 people taken hostage. Fifty-eight of them are still in captivity, with 34 believed to be dead.
Dr. Ryan detailed the physical and psychological toll on Gaza’s children, citing over 1,000 amputees, thousands more with permanent injuries, and widespread trauma.
Addressing WHO staff and journalists, he said, “I’m angry… as a physician, I’m angry with myself that I’m not doing enough. I’m angry with everyone here.” He ended his remarks with a stark warning: “This cannot continue… This is an abomination.”
