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The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported that ambulances and relief centres had been \u201ctargeted or hit in Lebanon, causing further casualties<\/strong>\u201d, adding that the UN health agency WHO and health partners have continued to deliver life-saving surgical supplies to frontline health workers.<\/p>\n International humanitarian law provides special protection for ambulances, healthcare workers and their patients and must not be a target, OCHA insisted in an online update, as Lebanese officials said an Israeli airstrike killed five healthworkers in the south of the country.<\/p>\n According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), 92 people in Lebanon have been killed and 92 injured in 38 attacks on healthcare in the last year, since Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel intensified with the outbreak of war in Gaza.<\/p>\n Close to 100 health facilities in southern Lebanon have had to close because of Israeli bombardment and\u00a0<\/p>\n ground operations and WHO described five hospitals as \u201cnon-functional\u201d and four in areas \u201cfacing intense conflict\u201d that were forced to evacuate staff and critical cancer and dialysis patients to other hospitals already at full capacity.<\/p>\n \u201cThe protection of civilians and healthcare is a legal and moral imperative that must be upheld<\/strong>,\u201d said Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. \u201cAttacks on health care cannot continue to be one of the defining marks of conflict in this region.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to supporting emergency care, health teams from the WHO \u201care also ramping up efforts to prevent infectious disease outbreaks, focusing on strengthening surveillance, as well as community engagement for early detection and response\u201d, according to an\u00a0update shared by OCHA.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite ongoing humanitarian efforts, the operational environment remains highly challenging,\u201d OCHA said. \u201cActive hostilities, disrupted supply chains, and physical obstacles \u2013 such as damaged infrastructure and road blockages \u2013 continue to hamper the delivery of critical, life-saving aid.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Balkhy also expressed deep alarm at the catastrophic humanitarian situation in northern Gaza where the Israeli military has stepped up operations and issued new evacuation orders in recent days.<\/p>\n UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, announced on Wednesday that it had shut several schools-turned-shelters in northern Gaza as a siege of Jabalia refugee camp enters a sixth day.<\/p>\n Only two of eight water wells in the Jabalya refugee camp remain functional, the UN agency said, while the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned that the north faces severe shortages of bread and food supplies, as explosive munitions \u201cburned down the only bakery supported by WFP in Jabalya refugee camp\u201d.<\/p>\n Around 400,000 people are believed to remain in the north of the enclave where hospitals are \u201coverwhelmed and risk going out of service\u201d, according to WHO\u2019s Dr Balkhy.<\/p>\n According to OCHA, checkpoints inside Gaza only allow civilians to move south, while allowing \u201cjust a trickle\u201d of humanitarian movement into the north.<\/p>\n Repeated efforts by the UN health agency and OCHA to reach medical teams with relief items and fuel \u201chave been impeded or denied\u201d, Dr Balkhy continued, echoing the dire assessment from WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who\u00a0said late Wednesday that missions to evacuate critically ill patients from northern hospitals and supply others had been obstructed for two days running.<\/p>\nHospitals evacuated<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Jabaliya bakery burns down<\/strong><\/h2>\n
No option but to move south<\/strong><\/h2>\n