As Gaza’s woes continued, shortages in Iran began to set in

Meanwhile in Iran, concerns are rising over shortages of critical medical supplies caused by Israeli-US bombing ahead of the extension of the ceasefire announced by President Trump on Wednesday.

“The ceasefire announcement earlier this month came as a relief. However, the reality on the ground is very different,” said Cristhian Cortez Cardoza, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, a UN partner.

Speaking from Beirut after returning from Tehran, Cardoza stressed that “a ceasefire does not mean the conflict is over”. The consequences of weeks of “intense conflict” will continue to be felt by Iranian society “for months and years to come”, he said.

Hundreds of Iranian health facilities have been damaged or destroyed, IFRC officials explained, and there are increasing concerns about medical access and potential shortages of essential servicessuch as dialysis machines and prosthetic devices, due to manufacturing defects.

Because of the war, IFRC factories supplied 60 percent of the country’s dialysis filters only has enough raw materials to continue production for the next three months.

destruction of Gaza

Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza remains critical, with more than 1,800 health facilities partially or completely destroyed, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

“They range from large hospitals like Al Shifa in Gaza City to smaller primary health care centers, clinics, pharmacies and laboratories,” said the agency’s new representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Dr Reinhilde Van de Weerdt.

Speaking from Jerusalem, Dr Van de Weerdt reported on his first visit to Gaza as the new WHO representative.

“I just spent my first week in Gaza earlier this month. And really nothing prepares you for the sheer scale of the destruction. You can read reports, study the numbers, but it’s another thing to stand on the street amidst piles of rubble several meters high..”

Tent, debris and rats

Across Gaza, most Palestinian families are still displaced, the humanitarian veteran said. “They live in tents amidst the rubble, relying on humanitarian aid to meet their basic needs. Despite the ceasefire, airstrikes, shelling and shelling continue.”

In addition to these dangers, more than 17,000 cases of rodent-related infections have been reported so far this year among Gaza refugees and more than 80 percent of refugee camps reported skin infections, such as scabies, lice and bedbugs – “It is an unfortunate but predictable consequence when people live in damaged living environments,” the WHO official said.

“For WHO and its health partners, we need to have a better understanding of the diseases affecting people in Gaza. Therefore, we need laboratory equipment and supplies to go into Gaza. As many of you know, this equipment and supplies are not coming into Gaza, leaving us blindsided.”

To tackle this growing health threat “everything needs to change”, Dr Van de Weerdt stressed. “Health workers and health services need to be protected; medicine and essential supplies must enter Gaza. Bureaucratic processes and restrictions on access to these globally recognized essential medicines and supplies must be eliminated.”

‘Dynamic threat’

Echoing that message, chief United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory underscores the ever-present danger of unexploded ordnance in the devastated enclave.

The deadly threat is now “basically ingrained or embedded in the rubble at this point,” said Julius Dirk Van Der Walt, Chair of UNMAS, at OPT.

“We still don’t understand the level of contamination we will face in Gazahe continued.

“What we know is that this will be a dynamic threat… there will be many families returning to their homes; a father may come into the house, find a hand grenade, and want to keep it away from his children.”