Lebanon facing 'staggering' unmet health needs: WHO

Beirut, Dec 21 (IANS) Lebanon is facing "staggering unmet health needs" as thousands of civilians cry out for reconstructive surgeries and physical rehabilitation after the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, the World Health Organization Lebanon Office said.

Over 4,000 people have been killed and 17,000 others injured in Lebanon since last October, and the death toll has been climbing continuously "as more bodies are found in the 16,000 buildings that have been partially or completely destroyed, leaving an estimated 8 million tonnes of debris," the office said in a news release.

"One in four people with life-changing injuries will need long-term rehabilitation," it noted.

Most hospitals in Lebanon are running below capacity due to financial restraints and shortages of health workers, long-standing challenges in Lebanon, it said.

The need for health workers is also dire in the country, as more than 530 health workers and patients have been killed or wounded in attacks on health care, and thousands of health workers have been displaced, it said.

"Water and sanitation systems have been severely disrupted, compounding the risk of disease outbreaks," it added.

The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on November 27, putting an end to the confrontations that erupted on October 8, 2023, Xinhua news agency reported.

Despite the agreement, the Israeli army continues to carry out strikes in Lebanon, which, according to reports from official Lebanese media, ranged between machine gun fire, artillery shelling, bulldosing homes, and airstrikes, some of which resulted in deaths and injuries in southern and eastern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah has violated the truce once after it said it was in response to the repeated Israeli attacks.

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