Ethiopia: Violence in the north is pushing health system to the brink, WHO chief warns

2 November 2026 Health

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called on Monday for greater protection for civilians caught in conflict in northern Ethiopia following deadly drone strikes this past weekend.

“ Reports of attacks on civilians in Ethiopia’s Amhara and Tigray regions are deeply disturbing ,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a post on social media.

He said children, including a newborn, were among fatalities at a displacement camp in Amhara.

In a separate strike in the town of Rama in Tigray, several people were reportedly killed while trying to get food.

Attacks ‘tragically’ frequent

Fresh fighting between Ethiopian Government forces and rebel groups resumed in the two regions and another, Afar, in September nearly four years after a peace deal.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned of the risk of escalation and wider destabilization.

Last Friday, he said he was…