Cholera cases since the outbreak began in August have risen to 20,896, the global body said.

The U.N. health agency said cholera is spreading in Zimbabwe because of badly maintained sanitation systems, rampant inflation that has hit doctors and nurses, and a lack of clean drinking water.

“I've seen hospitals which were basically empty," said Dominique Legros, a cholera expert with the World Health Organization.

Legros said the situation would remain that way unless the WHO and Zimbabwe's government figure out a way to improve salaries for local health workers.

The latest WHO figures show the cholera fatality rate stands at 5.4 percent. The U.N. agency has said it needs to be less than 1 percent to control the outbreak.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it has started disinfecting homes of cholera patients in Zimbabwe's capital Harare, the hardest hit area.

The outbreak has also moved to neighboring countries.

The International Organization for Migration said it was setting up cholera treatment centers near borders with South Africa and Botswana to prevent the disease from further spreading across borders. 

WT12 Mideast-conflict-Gaza-Lebanon-Hezbollah Thousands join Hezbollah rally in Beirut against Gaza siege

BEIRUT, Dec 19, 2008 (AFP) - Thousands of people gathered in Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday for a mass protest organised by Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement against Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Streets were cordoned off as protesters waving Palestinian flags and yellow Hezbollah flags poured into the Hezbollah stronghold for the rally in Al-Raya Stadium as loudspeakers blasted out a speech by its chief, Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah boy scouts and women in black chadors carried two huge Palestinian flags through the crowd.

Some protesters chanted "Death to Israel! Death to America!" as others carried placards reading "No peace if it leads to humaintarian catastrophe" and "May God protect our leader Nasrallah."

Other demonstrations are also being held in cities in the south, north and in the Bekaa Valley, east of the capital.

Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed after the Islamist Hamas ousted forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in June 2007, was tightened even further last month because of an upsurge in violence.

Tensions remained high in and around Gaza on Friday as Hamas declared an end to a troubled six-month truce with Israel and warned they would respond to any attack.

The truce had been uneasy ever since it went into effect on June 19, and violence has increased since early November, with 18 Palestinians killed and Israel reporting more than 250 rocket and mortar fire attacks.

Hamas and Hezbollah, considered terrorist organisations by the United States, both advocate "resistance" to Israel.