WHO ‘deeply concerned’ about West Bank violence, impact on healthcare

The World Health Organisation is “deeply concerned” about the Israeli occupation army’s offensive in the West Bank and the impact of “starkly rising” attacks on healthcare, its representative in the Palestinian territories said on Tuesday.

Israel sent tanks into the occupied West Bank for the first time in more than 20 years on Sunday and ordered the military to prepare for an “extended stay” in the Palestinian territory, Reuters has reported.

“We are deeply concerned about the situation in the West bank and the impact on health,” Dr Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the West Bank and Gaza, told reporters via video link from the Gaza Strip. “We see the current flashpoints of violence, attacks on healthcare… starkly rising in the West Bank.”

Israel did not immediately comment on Peeperkorn’s remarks about attacks affecting healthcare.

The WHO says that there have been 44 attacks this year that affected the provision of healthcare in the West Bank, with four healthcare facilities impacted. Four patients died waiting for an ambulance and eight health workers were injured while attempting to reach patients, it said. And it noted that 25 healthcare workers and patients had been killed and 121 injured in the West Bank since 7 October, 2023.

The WHO also reported “severe movement restrictions” across the West Bank, including obstacles affecting the movement of ambulances and access for healthcare workers.

Peeperkorn pointed out that the WHO has provided emergency supplies and trauma kits to some West Bank hospitals.

At least 40,000 Palestinians have been “forcibly displaced” from Jenin and the nearby city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank since Israel began its operation last month, two days after the ceasefire agreement came into effect in Gaza.

Eighty-two Palestinians were killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or illegal settlers between 1 January and 13 February, according to the latest WHO figures.

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