13 May 2025
Thank you for joining today’s WHO/EMRO press briefing. I always appreciate the opportunity to connect with our media colleagues.
I will begin with an update on some of the most acute emergencies in our Region.
We remain deeply concerned about the catastrophic situation in Gaza, with more than 52,000 deaths and nearly 120,000 injuries reported to date.
Thousands of health workers have been killed, injured, or detained. Hospitals that remain open are barely operational. People are dying while life-saving medical supplies sit just beyond Gaza’s borders–denied entry.
After nine weeks of total blockade, the Israeli authorities propose to shut down the UN-led aid distribution system and deliver aid under conditions set by the military.
WHO and the UN will not participate in any initiative that violates humanitarian principles. Aid must reach those in need—wherever they are―and the blockade must end.
According to the IPC Acute Food Insecurity and Malnutrition Analysis released yesterday, all 2.1 million people in Gaza face prolonged food shortages, with one in five people―nearly half a million―facing starvation.
Three quarters of Gaza’s population are at “Emergency” or “Catastrophic” levels of food deprivation, the two worst levels on IPC’s five-point scale.
Famine has not yet been declared, but people are starving and disease is spreading fast.
Without urgent action, this situation will rapidly deteriorate.
In Yemen, where recent airstrikes have killed or injured over 1,000 people, and attacks on health facilities persist, WHO is delivering essential trauma supplies.
Yemen is also facing one of the world’s largest cholera outbreaks—over 270,000 suspected cases and nearly 900 deaths in