Vital medical aid from World Health Organization supply trucks has yet to reach the beseiged Gaza enclave since the doors of an 80-day blockade inched open a week ago, said Hanan Balkhy, WHO’s director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, at a UN-Geneva press briefing on Monday.

The chaos on the ground in Gaza, against a widening Israeli war and a halting resumption of some humanitarian aid deliveries, contrasted sharply with the largely symbolic vote by the World Health Assembly on Monday authorizing WHO to “raise the flag” of Palestine along that of other WHO member states.

The decision to ‘raise the flag’, approved by a vote of 95-4, was the fourth measure on the status of Palestine and the crisis in Gaza to come before the WHA in its 2025 session.  Only the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Israel  voted against the measure, while 27 member states abstained.

“The WHA’s endorsement of this decision would … send an important message to Palestinians that they have not been forsaken. It would demonstrate that the Palestinians right to self determination is inalienable, and as such, cannot be subject to a veto, nor erased,” said South Africa’s delegate, during the WHA debate.

On the ground in Gaza, meanwhile, no WHO trucks of medical supplies have so far been allowed entry to  the beseiged enclave since Israel first began to allow some aid deliveries to resume last week, easing an 80-day blockade. Balkhy said 51 WHO trucks were poised and waiting to enter from Egypt’s El Arish crossing point.

As of Friday, while 415 humanitarian aid trucks had been cleared to cross into Gaza, only 115 had been “collected”, and none had been allowed to enter the northern part of the enclave, which is seeing the heaviest fighting now, she added, quoting a Friday briefing by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.

The UN numbers corresponded roughly with those of Israel’s military coordination arm, COGAT, which reports that 388 trucks entered the enclave since the beginning of May. But many trucks have also been overhwlemed by hungry Gazans before UN aid agencies could collect and deliver the aid in a more systematic aid. See related story:

WHO Director General Appeals to Israel to End Deepening Food Crisis and Conflict in Gaza

Balkhy said that 43% of essential medicines are at “zero-stock” levels in addition to 64% of medical supplies and 42% of vaccines, citing data from Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health. Patients with chronic and life-threatening conditions—including kidney failure, cancer, blood disorders, and cardiovascular disease—are among the most affected, she added, saying, “WHO’s stocks in Gaza are dangerously low and will run out soon,” citing problems with dozens of products from common antibiotics to cesarean delivery kits.

Since 2 March, 57 children have reportedly died from the effects of malnutrition, Balkhy added, also citing Gaza Ministry of Health data. And 71 000 children under the age of five are expected to suffer from acute malnourishment over the next eleven months, if conditions don’t change radically.

Delays in mounting of private Gaza humanitarian aid effort

Her comments came against a day in which Israel’s planned opening of private aid distribution points for Gaza aid, intended to sidestep UN agencies and Hamas, was reportedly delayed for a second time.

That followed Sunday’s resignation of the Jake Wood, head the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the private entity that had been awarded a tender by Israel to deliver the aid, with US approval.

In a statement distributed by the Foundation, Wood was quoted saying that plans for the distribution hubs would not meet the “humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, which I will not abandon.”

Various UN organizations have also declared that they won’t cooperate with the Geneva-based GHF, which had earlier said it would distribute some 300 million meals in its first 90 days of operation. In an interview with CNN,  UNICEF’s James Elder described the plan as “unworkable” – with only a “handful” of distribution points.

“Think about a mom who has a couple of children and her husband has been killed.  And she has to walk three or four miles in a militarized zone to pick up aid and then walk back,” Elder said. He noted that the plan would also force most Gazan’s to relocate to the southern part of the tiny enclave to access any aid at all.

In a WHA meeting last week, WHO’s Health Emergencies Executive Director Mike Ryan had asserted that “we will work with anything that works” – but added that the UN agencies already had a proven track record of aid delivery – demonstrated during the last ceasefire.

Sudan is another, ignored, flashpoint

Another devastating crisis that is not getting the attention it deserves is Sudan, Balkhy asserted in her meeting with UN journalists Monday.

“Simultaneous outbreaks—cholera, polio, measles, dengue, malaria—are overwhelming a health system shattered by conflict. Access to care is vanishing, as violence displaces millions and blocks life-saving aid. Hunger and malnutrition affect 25 million—including 770,000 children facing severe acute malnutrition this year. Immunization rates have plunged to below 50 per cent, from 85 per cent before the war,” the EMRO Regional Director said.

“Attacks on health and vital infrastructure are rampant,” she said noting that drones have also hit Port Sudan and other aid entry points.

Throughout the conflict,  WHO has delivered over 2,500 metric tonnes of supplies, and supported hospitals treating over 1 million people, including ,75,000 children for severe acute malnutrition. Some 30 million people have received vaccines for cholera, measles, or polio. And in November 2024, Sudan introducted the malaria vaccine, reaching 35,000 children so far.

“But aid cuts are threatening progress,” she added. “The health pillar of Sudan’s Humanitarian Response Plan is just 9.7 per cent funded. WHO’s response has a 67 per cent funding gap,” she pointed out, calling for “sustained support to save lives and rebuild Sudan’s health system; unimpeded access and international support for cross-border humanitarian operations; and an immediate end to attacks on civilians, civilian infrastructure and health care.”

Image Credits: WHO .