Islamabad: With a fragile ceasefire barely holding in Gaza, global health agencies have begun racing against time to prevent a secondary wave of deaths from disease, untreated injuries and collapsing medical services.
The World Health Organization has activated a $45 million emergency and early recovery initiative, warning that the next two months will decide whether Gaza’s shattered health system can be stabilised or slips into irreversible breakdown.
WHO estimates that 2.1 million Palestinians now urgently need healthcare, from trauma surgery and burn care to chronic illness treatment, maternity services and psychological support.
Health officials fear that without immediate intervention during this temporary pause in fighting, thousands could die from preventable causes even after the bombs stop falling.
According to UN-linked figures, more than 67,000 people have been killed and over 169,000 injured since the conflict erupted. Doctors say at least 40,000 people are now living with permanent disabilities, many requiring long-term rehabilitation, prosthetics and ongoing surgical care.
The WHO’s 60-day Ceasefire Health Response Plan, announced on Friday, aims to use this window to restore primary care clinics, revive oxygen plants and fuel-starved generators, reopen referral systems and restart surveillance for outbreaks such as cholera, hepatitis and respiratory infections.
With water pipelines damaged and shelters severely overcrowded, disease risk is rising daily, WHO warned.
The plan assumes uninterrupted humanitarian access and functioning crossings to allow the flow of medical supplies and personnel. Despite this, more than 15,000 critically ill patients are still waiting for evacuation, while hospitals continue to operate with depleted staff, broken equipment and limited fuel.
WHO says its first priority is to push life-saving trauma supplies, essential medicines and equipment into secondary and primary health facilities, including maternal and non-communicable disease services.
Aid agencies have also urged authorities to allow the entry of previously restricted “dual-use” surgical equipment to prevent unnecessary deaths.
Evacuations will be scaled up to at least 50 patients a day, significantly higher than current numbers. The organisation will also support field hospitals with independent supply chains for North and South Gaza to prevent aid blockages and delays.
A major component of the recovery plan focuses on mental health and rehabilitation, especially for thousands of amputees and children experiencing acute trauma. Catch-up vaccinations are also planned for around 40,000 infants who have missed routine immunisations, with health workers warning of a potential measles or polio flare-up if the campaign fails to begin immediately.
To coordinate more than 88 medical partners already active in Gaza, WHO’s health cluster will expand its deployment teams from 30 to 40 units. It will also rebuild at least 10 primary health centres and begin partial restoration of major damaged hospitals including Al Shifa and Al Aqsa, supported by modular clinics to keep emergency services running during reconstruction.
The intervention is divided into urgent funding needs 19.5 million for essential health services, $5.5 million for disease surveillance and laboratory systems, $19 million for hospital rehabilitation and $1 million for coordination.
Health officials caution that even a successful rollout will only stabilise the situation temporarily. “This ceasefire is a narrow medical corridor — if it does not translate into sustained reconstruction and uninterrupted supply routes, Gaza could see a second health tragedy just as the bombings pause,” a WHO coordinator warned.
For Gaza’s exhausted medical community, the next 60 days will determine not just survival, but whether a functioning health system can rise from the wreckage — or whether preventable deaths become the conflict’s final legacy.
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