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Situation in Gaza spiraling out of control, WHO chief warns

The WHO chief announced earlier that a plane with medical supplies for Gaza residents had landed in El Arish, Egypt

GENEVA, October 18. /TASS/. The situation in the Gaza Strip is spiraling out of control due to a delay in the delivery of medical supplies, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

"The situation in Gaza is spiraling out of control. Every second we wait to get medical aid in, we lose lives. For four days, WHO supplies have been stuck at the border (between Gaza and Egypt - TASS). We need immediate access to start delivering life-saving supplies. We need violence on all sides to stop," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

The WHO chief announced earlier that a plane with medical supplies for Gaza residents had landed in El Arish, Egypt. Reuters reported on Monday that the Egyptian authorities had attributed the delay in the delivery of supplies to a lack of cooperation from Israel, including the blocking of the Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza. Cairo earlier called on the international community wishing to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza to send help to El Arish International Airport.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again after Hamas militants infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7. The Palestinian movement described its attack as a response to the actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank. More than 3,500 Palestinians have been killed and over 13,700 have suffered wounds; in Israel, the death toll stands at about 1,500 and over 4,200 people have been wounded.