While the UN Security Council failed to demand a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, due to the US veto, the 34 member countries of the WHO's Executive Board are all calling for the "immediate, sustained and unimpeded passage of humanitarian aid" into the Gaza Strip.
The resolution, proposed by Afghanistan, Morocco, Qatar and Yemen, calls for granting exit permits to patients, providing medicines and medical equipment for civilians, and allowing access to medical care to anyone deprived of their liberty.
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The resolution, adopted in a special session, also expresses its "grave concern" about the humanitarian situation and the "widespread destruction" and calls for the protection of all civilians. "You have achieved something that so far Member States have not achieved in other forums," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
U.S., Canadian and Australian Reserves
"This is the first consensus resolution on the conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories since it began two months ago," he said, calling it "a platform to build on." While accepting the resolution, some Western countries expressed reservations. The U.S. representative said Washington agreed not to oppose the consensus but had "significant reservations," saying she "regrets the lack of balance in the resolution."
For Canada, the text is a "compromise resolution" that could also have denounced Hamas' role in the conflict, hostage-taking and "the use of human shields." Australia disputed that the resolution did not specifically refer to the bloody attacks of 7 October, which were "the catalyst for the current devastating situation".
"The work of health workers has become impossible"
At the opening of the special session in Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Palestinian territory's health system was collapsing. "As more and more people move to smaller and smaller areas, overcrowding, combined with a lack of adequate food, water, shelter and sanitation, are creating the ideal conditions for the spread" of disease, he added. Only 14 out of 36 hospitals are operating at reduced capacity and only 1,400 of the 3,500 hospital beds are still available, he said.
The war was sparked by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7 on Israeli soil from the Gaza Strip. Israeli retaliatory shelling of the Gaza Strip killed nearly 17,800 people, the majority of them civilians, according to Hamas' health ministry.
"The work of health workers has become impossible and they are in the firing line," the WHO chief added. "Health workers are physically and mentally exhausted and are doing their best in unimaginable conditions."
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The special session was convened by half of the countries on the Executive Board, which normally meets twice a year. Its main task is to advise the World Health Assembly, the WHO's decision-making body, and then implement its decisions.
Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila, speaking via video link from Ramallah, said that "the daily horrors we are all witnessing defy international law and shatter the very essence of our common humanity."
'Hamas is responsible for this suffering'
For her part, Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel's ambassador to Geneva, assured that the Israeli military operation "is directed against Hamas and not against the Palestinian people," adding "I am aware of the suffering that Gaza is enduring."
"But make no mistake: Hamas is responsible for this suffering." "The reality is that if we stop now, Hamas will hold another October 7," she said. "The desire to reach consensus at all costs, including ignoring the hostage situation, is simply unacceptable," she continued.