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Dr. Thieren spent nearly two weeks travelling throughout the nation to satisfy with survivors, authorities and households of greater than 200 hostages held captive in Gaza.
WHO provided humanitarian assist to Israel’s well being response instantly after the assaults. On the time, Israel’s Well being Ministry replied that the system was coping, however that it could not hesitate to ask if help was wanted. Up to now, WHO’s surveillance system of assaults on healthcare recorded eight assaults on Israeli medical amenities that killed seven folks.
In visits to destroyed and abandoned cities, from a hospital in Ashkelon to navy bases the place victims’ stays are saved pending their identification, Dr. Thieren spoke with survivors, well being employees and authorities.
He additionally met with family members of hostages taken by Hamas, amid persevering with repeated calls by WHO and UN companions for his or her instant and unconditional launch.
Because the Israel-Palestine battle escalates, Dr. Thieren shared an account of what he noticed and heard:
Dr. Michel Thieren (proper) talks to medical employees on his go to to the Barzilai Medical Centre in Ashkelon.
“What’s so putting is that the majority the folks I spoke to, the overwhelming majority of them with extreme accidents from gun pictures, shrapnel and burns, didn’t wish to discuss themselves in any respect however concerning the folks that they had seen die in entrance of them.
Virtually each a kind of survivors had seen another person die earlier than they themselves have been injured. They’re completely haunted by this. It’s dominant of their ideas.
So many want pressing psychological well being assist.
Emergency employees in Israel reply to missile assaults.
‘Quickly spreading’ psychological well being issues
The truth that so many Israelis are nonetheless being held hostage by Hamas implies that there isn’t any probability for the broader public to start the therapeutic course of.
It’s on their minds 24 hours a day. It has added to the collective psychological burden witnessed nationwide, triggering an acute want for psychological well being companies.
From what I’m seeing, psychological well being issues seem like quickly spreading among the many nation’s inhabitants. The human struggling is immense.
Folks simply don’t really feel secure anymore, and it is a full change of their current historical past.
Solely half of 1,400 victims recognized
Medical doctors and forensic specialists are nonetheless working to determine the our bodies. They’re all wrapped in plastic luggage. There are clearly grownup our bodies and kids’s our bodies, however the overwhelming majority of luggage are misshapen.
Regardless of Israel having a few of the greatest forensic docs on this planet, solely 700 – barely half of the 1,400 victims – have been positively recognized up to now.
This, after all, is extremely impactful on these which can be doing this mandatory work.
Emergency employees in Israel are known as to help a 10-year-old boy who was hit by shrapnel.
‘Ghost cities’
I’ve visited ghost cities within the south whose populations have been evacuated. There may be nonetheless the horrible stench of demise. I’ve listened to so many individuals telling their tales.
Survivors, the injured, psychiatrists, docs, first responders and troopers – all their accounts are horrific.
The shadow of nationwide shock and grief has plunged this nation into night time.”
Be taught extra from WHO’s truth sheet on psychological well being in emergencies right here.
