WHO: Respiratory infections and severe diseases on the rise in Gaza shelters

The UN and World Health Organisation have said that disease in emergency shelters in Gaza is quickly spreading and intensifying as people seek safety in cramped conditions. 

With health services overstretched and Israel cutting off water supplies to the strip, respiratory infections and diarrhoea are among the most severe diseases in emergency shelters, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says.

Some 180,000 people are already suffering from respiratory infections, while more than 136,000 children under the age of five currently have diarrhoea, which can cause a life-threatening loss of water and vital minerals at this age if not treated. There are also more than 55,000 cases of lice and scabies.