Syria’s forgotten health crisis needs healing: WHO regional chief

Syria's shattered healthcare system has been forgotten by the world at large, a top WHO official said, urging new, creative thinking to halt the exodus of medical staff abroad. (AFP/File)
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Updated 08 June 2024
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Syria’s forgotten health crisis needs healing: WHO regional chief

  • Hanan Balkhy, WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean regional director, said almost half the health workforce had fled the country
  • Balkhy said Syria was facing “multi, multi-layered crises,” with 13 years of civil war, sanctions and last year’s major earthquake compounded by a complex geopolitical situation

GENEVA: Syria’s shattered health care system has been forgotten by the world at large, a top WHO official said, urging new, creative thinking to halt the exodus of medical staff abroad.
Hanan Balkhy, the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean regional director, said young doctors needed to be offered better prospects than practicing fourth-century medicine in dire conditions.
Balkhy, who took office in February, visited Syria from May 11-16, describing the situation on her return as “catastrophic,” with a “staggering” number of people in need and alarming rates of child malnutrition.
She said almost half the health workforce had fled the country.
Balkhy said Syria was facing “multi, multi-layered crises,” with 13 years of civil war, sanctions and last year’s major earthquake compounded by a complex geopolitical situation.
Only 65 percent of hospitals and 62 percent of primary health care centers are fully operational, and they have severe shortages of medicines and equipment.
“We need to think out of the box when it comes to maintaining the health workforce, bringing in younger people, keeping them engaged so that we still have people signing up,” Balkhy told AFP.
Health care workers were facing “very, very low” wages, if they can get a salary.
And if surgeons don’t have an operating room, anaesthetics, professional nurses and sterilization units, “then what’s the use of having a surgeon?,” she argued.
“Then you have to have medications. If you’re not producing your own medications and you could not import your medications, the doctor is paralyzed, in a way.
“So, either you have to accept to practice medicine in the fourth century, where you cauterise people and send them on their merry way, or we try to figure out creative ways.”
Balkhy said such solutions needed to make health professionals more content to stay in Syria or to return to the country, which she said many would “willingly” do, “if they were given some kind of support.”
“They’re learning German in medical school on the side so that they can be ready to jump, and that’s scary for the region,” the Saudi doctor lamented.
She proposed getting young physicians engaged on research projects with a pathway to publishing, so they can “feel that they’re doing something worthwhile” — and making sure that they “at least have the equipment” for surgical operations.
And because doctors cannot travel to conferences to present papers, they need access to virtual platforms to stay in touch with the international health community, she said.
As for medication, Balkhy suggested ramping up pooled procurement and supporting local manufacturing of basic products such as painkillers, antibiotics, and antihypertensives for the “silent killer” — high blood pressure.
Balkhy, who was in Geneva this week for the WHO’s executive board meeting, said the intermittent electricity in Syria had broader knock-on health effects than people might realize.
She said Syria was witnessing a disproportionately high number of burn injuries because people were burning anything — “tires, plastic, fabric” — to cook food and warm their homes, causing domestic fires and respiratory injuries, while regular power cuts were sparking domestic appliances.
“Civilians, children: they’re getting the brunt of it in ways you could never imagine,” said Balkhy.
She urged donor countries to dissociate politics from health and renew their interest in humanitarian funding for Syria.
“I’m a paediatrician by training, so prevention is my game,” she said.
“When you dig deep into the root causes of the harm... much of it is preventable.”


Israeli tanks advance into areas in north and south Gaza, fighting rages

Updated 30 June 2024
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Israeli tanks advance into areas in north and south Gaza, fighting rages

  • Israeli tanks fire shells toward several houses, leaving families trapped inside and unable to leave
  • Israel’s military operations in Rafah aimed at eradicating the last armed battalions of Hamas

CAIRO/GAZA: Israeli forces advanced further on Sunday into the Shejaia neighborhood of northern Gaza and also pushed deeper into western and central Rafah in the south, killing at least six Palestinians and destroying several homes, residents said.
Israeli tanks, which moved back into Shejaia four days ago, fired shells toward several houses, leaving families trapped inside and unable to leave, the residents said.
The Israeli military said forces operating in Shejaia had over the past day killed several Palestinian gunmen, located weapons, and struck military infrastructure. On Saturday it announced the death of two Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza.
The armed wing of Hamas and the allied Islamic Jihad reported fierce fighting in both Shejaia and Rafah, saying their fighters had fired anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs against Israeli forces operating there.
More than eight months into Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza, militants continue to stage attacks on Israeli forces, operating in areas that the Israeli army said it had gained control over months ago.
Arab mediators’ efforts, backed by the United States, have so far failed to secure a ceasefire. Hamas says any deal must end the war and bring a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting until Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007, is eradicated.
RAFAH DEATHS
In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, Israeli tanks pushed deeper into several districts in the east, west and center of the city, and medics said six people had been killed in an Israeli strike on a house in Shaboura, in the heart of the city.
The six bodies from the Zurub family were transferred to Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis. On Sunday, dozens of relatives paid their respects before the bodies, which were wrapped in white shrouds, and then carried them in their arms to prepared graves.
Residents said the Israeli army had torched the Al-Awda mosque in the center of Rafah, one of the city’s best-known.
Israel has said its military operations in Rafah are aimed at eradicating the last armed battalions of Hamas.
The Israeli military said on Sunday its forces continued “targeted, intelligence-based” operations in Rafah, killing several gunmen in different encounters and dismantling tunnels.
The latest Gaza war erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has so far killed nearly 38,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins.
The Gaza health ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants but officials say most of the dead are civilians. More than 300 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza and Israel says at least a third of the Palestinian dead are fighters.


Israel extends cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks, official says

Updated 30 June 2024
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Israel extends cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks, official says

  • The waiver, which was due to expire at the end of June, allows Israeli banks to process shekel payments for services and salaries tied to the Palestinian Authority
JERUSALEM: Israel’s finance minister has extended a waiver that allows cooperation between its banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank, the minister’s spokesperson said on Sunday.
The waiver, which was due to expire at the end of June, allows Israeli banks to process shekel payments for services and salaries tied to the Palestinian Authority. Without it, the Palestinian economy would have taken a hit.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich extended the waiver during a recent cabinet meeting, his spokesperson said.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said it was important to keep open the Israeli-Palestinian correspondent banking relationships to allow battered economies in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to function and help ensure security.
The Palestinian economy relies heavily on this relationship to process transactions made in Israeli shekels.
Some 53 billion shekels ($14 billion) were exchanged at Palestinian banks in 2023, official data show.

President Ghazouani maintains lead in Mauritania presidential election

Updated 30 June 2024
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President Ghazouani maintains lead in Mauritania presidential election

NOUAKCHOTT: Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani held a steady lead in the West African nation’s presidential election with just over half of votes counted, provisional results from the electoral commission showed on Sunday.
Ghazouani had 54.87 percent of the vote, while his immediate rival, anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, was at 22.86 percent, with 50.32 percent of votes counted, or just 2,211 polling stations out of 4,503 reporting by 0700 GMT, provisional results on the electoral commission’s website showed.


Vessel and crew safe after incident southwest of Yemen’s Al-Mukha, UKMTO says

Updated 30 June 2024
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Vessel and crew safe after incident southwest of Yemen’s Al-Mukha, UKMTO says

  • Merchant vessel reportedly approached by 12 small craft, which remained in the vicinity of the vessel for about an hour before leaving the area

CAIRO: The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Sunday it had received a report of an incident 13 nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s Al-Mukha, but that the vessel and its crew were safe.

An UKMTO advisory note said a merchant vessel had reported being approached by 12 small craft which remained in the vicinity of the vessel for about an hour before leaving the area.

The vessel and crew were reported safe, and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call, the advisory note added.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group has been launching drone and missile strikes in shipping lanes since November, saying that it acts in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s war in Gaza.

In dozens of attacks, the Houthis have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least three seafarers.


US has sent Israel thousands of 2,000-pound bombs since Oct. 7

Updated 30 June 2024
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US has sent Israel thousands of 2,000-pound bombs since Oct. 7

  • US has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles
  • 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions have also been sent, according to top officials

WASHINGTON: The Biden administration has sent to Israel large numbers of munitions, including more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles, since the start of the war in Gaza, said two US officials briefed on an updated list of weapons shipments.
Between the war’s start last October and recent days, the United States has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions, according to the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly.
While the officials didn’t give a timeline for the shipments, the totals suggest there has been no significant drop-off in US military support for its ally, despite international calls to limit weapons supplies and a recent administration decision to pause a shipment of powerful bombs.
Experts said the contents of the shipments appear consistent with what Israel would need to replenish supplies used in this eight-month intense military campaign in Gaza, which it launched after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas who killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
“While these numbers could be expended relatively quickly in a major conflict, this list clearly reflects a substantial level of support from the United States for our Israeli allies,” said Tom Karako, a weapons expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, adding that the listed munitions were the type Israel would use in its fight against Hamas or in a potential conflict with Hezbollah.
The delivery numbers, which have not been previously reported, provide the most up-to-date and extensive tally of munitions shipped to Israel since the Gaza war began.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire since the start of the Gaza war, and concern is rising that an all-out war could break out between the two sides.
The White House declined to comment. Israel’s Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The shipments are part of a bigger list of weapons sent to Israel since the Gaza conflict began, one of the US officials said. A senior Biden administration official on Wednesday told reporters that Washington has since Oct. 7 sent $6.5 billion worth of security assistance to Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks claimed that Washington was withholding weapons, a suggestion US officials have repeatedly denied even though they acknowledged some “bottlenecks.”
The Biden administration has paused one shipment of the 2,000-pound bomb, citing concern over the impact it could have in densely populated areas in Gaza, but US officials insist that all other arms deliveries continue as normal. One 2,000-pound bomb can rip through thick concrete and metal, creating a wide blast radius.
Reuters reported on Thursday that the United States is discussing with Israel the release of a shipment of large bombs that was suspended in May over worries about the military operation in Rafah.
International scrutiny of Israel’s military operation in Gaza has intensified as the Palestinian death toll from the war has exceeded 37,000, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has left the coastal enclave in ruins.
Washington gives $3.8 billion in annual military assistance to its longtime ally. While Biden has warned that he would place conditions on military aid if Israel fails to protect civilians and allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, he has not done so beyond delaying the May shipment.
Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas has emerged as a political liability, particularly among young Democrats, as he runs for re-election this year. It fueled a wave of “uncommitted” protest votes in primaries and has driven pro-Palestinian protests at US universities.
While the United States provides detailed descriptions and quantities of military aid sent to Ukraine as it fights a full-scale invasion of Russia, the administration has revealed few details about the full extent of US weapons and munitions sent to Israel.
The shipments are also hard to track because some of the weapons are shipped as part of arms sales approved by Congress years ago but only now being fulfilled.
One of the US officials said the Pentagon has sufficient quantities of weapons in its own stocks and had been liaising with US industry partners who make the weapons, such as Boeing Co. and General Dynamics as the companies work to manufacture more.