A senior official of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has accused Israel of continuing to hamper access to West Bank towns and refugee camps despite fears of outbreaks of disease.
Dr Angelo Stefanini, WHO's coordinator for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, also said Palestinian patients requiring treatment for chronic ailments including diabetes were unable to reach medical services due to restrictions on movement.
Campaigns to immunise children had stopped during Israel's three-week military assault and a lack of electricity had broken the cold chain needed to keep fresh vaccines and blood supplies for transfusions, the official said.
Streets full of flies and garbage, combined with shortages of clean drinking water, could provoke diarrhoea, he added.
Stefanini, who was recently in Jenin town, said he had been denied access to the besieged Jenin refugee camp. Israeli officials gave no reason for refusing to let him in, he added.
In Ramallah, the majority of the files of the Palestinian Health Ministry appeared to have been destroyed, according to Dr Ambrogio Manenti, a WHO official recently in the region.
The Geneva-based WHO has responded to a request from the UN agency assisting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, to provide 50 emergency hospital kits, Johanna Larusdottir, director of emergency and humanitarian action at WHO, said.
Each kit is equipped for setting up a mini clinic able to care for 10,000 people over a three-month period, she said.