GENEVA, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Over 11,000 people, or some 0.5 percent of the total population in the Gaza Strip, have reportedly been killed in the region, with an average of 160 children dying per day there, an official from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
So far, 16 health workers have been killed on duty, and the WHO is working to support health workers in Gaza and once again pleading for their safety, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told a press briefing here.
Lindmeier said 102 attacks against healthcare had been recorded in Gaza, 121 in the West Bank, and 25 in Israel. At the moment, 14 hospitals in Gaza were not functioning, due to the lack of fuel or the damages.
Noting Tuesday marks one month since Hamas' surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, the WHO official said that people in Israel were frightened and worried about more than 200 hostages, reiterating the call for the immediate release of all the hostages, many of whom need urgent medical attention.
At the same time, nothing justified the horror endured by civilians in Gaza, who need water, food and healthcare, and the level of death and suffering facing them is hard to fathom, he stressed.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told reporters that a total of 561 trucks had entered Gaza since Oct. 21, but none of them contained fuel due to the ban by the Israeli authorities.
Alessandra Vellucci, director of the UN Information Service in Geneva, told the briefing that more than 1.5 million people in Gaza had been displaced, with nearly half of them taking shelter in UN facilities. ■
