WHO raises concerns over amputees and deteriorating water quality in Gaza

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday raised concerns about deteriorating water quality, contamination and subsequent disease risks in the genocide-stricken Gaza Strip ahead of the upcoming winter. Addressing reporters from Gaza, Reinhilde Van de Weerdt, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territories, stated that “between January and August this year, over 6,700 water samples had been tested, and microbiological contamination almost tripled, from under six percent in January to over 18 percent in August”. She noted that “there had been a significant increase in cases of Acute Watery Diarrhoea over the same period, when cases nearly doubled”. "Sewage, waste, and contaminated water would not stay where they were, they would spread into the very spaces where people sleep, cook, and care for their children, furthering the risk and spread of waterborne diseases,” she added. Van de Weerdt stressed the importance of permanent shelters, suitable provision of water and waste management. She also highlighted the lack of access to essential services for amputees, noting that 6,600 people required long-term care for limb amputations, but prosthetic limbs had not been allowed into Gaza since May 2024. As of July 2026, only 12 percent of 4,600 patients who lost limbs since October 2023 had been fitted with a prosthetic device, she added.