Israel's war on Gaza — now in its 139th day — has killed at least 29,410 Palestinians, mostly children and women, and wounded 69,465 others. The continuous outbreak of infectious diseases in Gaza may ultimately cause more deaths among Palestinians than the ongoing Israeli military offensive, a senior World Health Organization has warned. "Infectious disease is a major concern for us in Gaza," Richard Brennan, regional emergency director at the UN health agency, told reporters in Cairo.
"WHO estimates that if we did have severe outbreaks of diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections and so on, there could potentially be more deaths due to disease outbreak than due to trauma." So far, WHO has confirmed 200,000 cases of diarrheal diseases, an increase of more than 20 percent compared to last year, Brennan sai