The World Health Organisation has warned that infectious diseases are “spiralling out of control” in the Gaza Strip, with only 13 of the Palestinian territory’s 36 hospitals even partially functioning, AFP reports.

“Whether meningitis… diarrhoea, respiratory illnesses, we’re talking about a mammoth amount of work,” Hanan Balkhy, regional director for the United Nations’ health body, told AFP in Cairo.

“We need more fuel to go into Gaza, we need more food, more medical equipment, medications, medics, doctors,” she said in an interview on Wednesday, echoing demands by international leaders for Israel to allow in a massive increase of aid.

WHO data shows there are only eight health facilities, all of them partially functioning, in Gaza City — the territory’s main urban hub.

For Balkhy, when people talk about repairing Gaza’s devastated hospitals, “the question is how many of them are available for rehabilitation versus [having to] rebuild all over again?

“We’re talking about billions of dollars, and we’re talking about decades of work,” she said, after the territory’s healthcare was essentially “dismantled”.