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“Trauma wards resemble battlefields, we need a ceasefire now”, says WHO
Describing the disastrous situation in Gaza two months after the start of the Israeli retaliation following Hamas' 7 October terror attacks in southern Israel, the UN health agency (WHO) warned on Friday that the war-torn enclave faced a "breakdown" of society.
“People are starting to cut down telephone poles to have a little bit of firewood to still keep warm, to maybe cook if they have anything available. So we are at that level where really the civilisation is about to break down,” WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told journalists in Geneva.
Intense Israeli bombardment of Gaza and fighting with Palestinian armed groups on the ground continues to hinder urgently needed aid operations.
The WHO spokesperson reported that on Friday “we had a convoy supposed to go up with medical supplies and to evacuate 12 patients from Al-Ahli [hospital] in the north to the south. That mission, we were told this morning, had to be suspended because of the security situation.” He added that WHO is trying to evacuate some patients to the United Arab Emirates.
“Health workers need to flee and take care of themselves on top of it. They don't have food. They don't have water to continue working. Patients are bleeding on the floor,” said WHO’s spokesperson. “Trauma wards resemble battlefields, literally. This must end. This callousness must end. We need a ceasefire and we need it now.”
WHO has documented 212 attacks on health care in the Gaza Strip since 7 October affecting 56 health care facilities (including 24 hospitals damaged) and 59 ambulances.
Mr. Lindmeier reported that children were "actually begging and crying for water".
"We're at that level where the most normal and basic supplies are not available anymore,” he said.
Usually “in any refugee camp situation”, he stressed, there would be a minimum of seven litres of water per day per person, while in Gaza that number is currently between one and two litres.
Currently, only 14 out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are functional and able to admit new patients, and even in these facilities services are limited. Only two of the partially functioning hospitals are in the north. The two major hospitals in southern Gaza are operating three times above their bed capacity, facing critical shortages of basic supplies and fuel.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, the occupancy rates are reaching 206 per cent in inpatient departments and 250 per cent in intensive care units. Additionally, these hospitals are providing shelter to thousands of IDPs.
“The situation in Gaza is beyond belief. Literally, the health system is on its knees,” reiterated WHO’s spokesperson. “Gaza cannot afford to lose any more health facility, any more single ambulance, any more hospital. We're seeing, what we're fearing, that the south will experience the same as the north.”
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, between 7 October and 7 December afternoon, at least 17,177 Palestinians have been killed in the Strip, about 70 per cent of whom are said to be women and children, and 46,000 are reportedly injured. Many more are missing, presumably under the rubble, awaiting rescue or recovery.
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STORY: Update Gaza humanitarian crisis - WHO
TRT: 1:54”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 08 December 2023 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior medium shot: UN building with UN flag, UN Geneva.
- Wide shot, press briefing room with moderator UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Christian Lindmeier, WHO spokesperson: “People are starting to cut down telephone poles to have a little bit of firewood still to keep warm, to maybe cook if they have anything available. So we are at that level where really the civilization is about to break down.”
- Cutaway: Wide shot, press briefing room with moderator, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Christian Lindmeier, WHO spokesperson: “Health workers need to flee and take care of themselves on top of it. They don't have food. They don't have water to continue working. Patients are bleeding on the floor. Trauma wards resemble battlefields, literally. This must end. This callousness must end. We need a cease fire and we need it now.”
- Cutaway: Wide shot, press briefing room with journalists and screens, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Christian Lindmeier, WHO spokesperson: “Children and people actually begging and crying for water. We're at that level where the most normal and basic supplies are not available anymore.”
- Cutaway: Wide shot, press briefing room with journalists, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Christian Lindmeier, WHO spokesperson : “Today we had a convoy supposed to go up with medical supplies and to evacuate 12 patients from Al-Ahli in the north to the south. That mission, we were told this morning had to be suspended because of the security situation. We're trying to evacuate some patients to the UAE.”
- Cutaway: Wide shot, press briefing room with journalists and screens, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Christian Lindmeier, WHO spokesperson : “The situation in Gaza is beyond belief. Literally, the health system is on its knees. Gaza cannot afford to lose any more health facility, anymore single ambulance, any more hospital. We're seeing, what we're fearing, that the South will experience the same as the North.”
- Cutaway: medium shot, screen and moderator, UN Geneva
- Cutaway: medium shot, journalist listening, UN Geneva
- Cutaway: medium shot, journalist listening, UN Geneva
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
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- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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