The funds, based on donor contributions, will help strengthen emergency coordination, trauma care and disease surveillance, the UN agency said on Sunday, while ensuring access to essential medicines and medical supplies.
“As the number of victims rises, so do the attacks on healthcarewhich increases the burden on health systems at a time when they are most needed,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post.
“I call on all parties to choose the courageous and life-saving path to peace” he added.
WHO’s regional director, Dr. Nana Balkhy, at a time when there were already significant cuts in aid, said a boost for frontline health workers was essential.
Cash injection
IN Lebanonan increasing number of injuries resulting from the resumption of attacks by Hezbollah militants in support of Iran and devastating counter-attacks by Israel targeting many areas in the south and the capital Beirut are putting a serious strain on health services.
On Saturday, Tedros emphasized that the killing of 14 health workers in southern Lebanon, the previous 24 hours marked a “tragic development” in the regional crisis sparked by the US and Israel’s decision to launch a full-scale air offensive against Iran.
Twelve doctors were killed in a late-night attack on the Bourj Qalauoiyeh primary health center, where two paramedics lost their lives earlier in an attack on a health facility. There have been 27 attacks on healthcare in Lebanon since March 2, resulting in at least 30 deaths.
IN Iraqservices are under increasing pressure – particularly in areas close to strike zones and violent demonstrations. The United States has provided $500,000 for emergency coordination, mass casualty management and other key services, the WHO said.
Before the bombing campaign began against Iran, the WHO needed $633 million through its 2026 appeal to meet regional needs. In March, they had only been financed with 37 per cent.
A grant of $500,000 to Syria will support the purchase of life-saving medicines and supplies for displaced populations and increase disease surveillance.
Peacekeepers under fire
Peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Mission in South Lebanon (UNIFIL), which monitors the Blue Line, came under fire again in three separate incidents while on patrol over the weekend.
The mission issued a statement saying that hostile fire most likely came from “non-state armed groups”, close to their bases in Yatar, Dayr Kifa and Qallawiyah.
“The fire in Yatar struck as close as five meters from the peacekeepers“, the mission said. “Two patrols returned fire in self-defense, and after brief exchanges, the patrols resumed their scheduled activities. No peacekeepers were injured.”
UNIFIL emphasized that the use of weapons by armed groups within the mission’s area of operations is a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701 which brought an end to hostilities between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in 2006.
UN chief António Guterres has just finished a solidarity visit to Lebanon, where he stressed that any attack against the UN’s ‘blue helmets’ and their positions “is completely unacceptable and they must stop.”
During his visit to Beirut, the Secretary-General also met some of the more than 800,000 civilians who have been forced to flee their homes since the fighting began, stressing once again that civilians should never be a target.
