UN says 1.7 million cases of disease recorded in Gaza since start of war

The destruction of Gaza's water and sanitation systems have led to about 1.7 million cases of various diseases since the war began, the UN said on Monday. "A lack of clean water has led to 1.7 million cases of infectious diseases, mainly diarrhoea, dysentery and hepatitis A," Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN special rapporteur on the rights to water and sanitation, said at a Geneva press briefing. Polio and other diseases have also attributed to a lack of clean water, he added, saying the shortage "is no less lethal than a bomb".