Deaths from disease in Gaza could outstrip deaths from war, UN says

Displaced Palestinians living in tents crammed together attempt to cook a meal over an open fire in Khan Younis. Photograph: Fatima Shbair/AP

Gaza is not getting enough aid to meet even basic emergency needs, the UN has warned, and the population is so ravaged by hunger, bombing and the lack of clean water that deaths from disease could outstrip those from war.

“All this aid is triage, and it’s not even enough for triage,” a Unicef spokesperson, James Elder, told a press conference in Geneva, speaking by video link from inside Gaza. “Everything here is emergency care.”