WHO chief says no end to hospital attacks in Gaza after deadly Israeli strike
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday called for an end to attacks on hospitals in Gaza after Israel struck one and attacked another in the past few days.
“Hospitals in Gaza have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is at grave risk,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an X post.
“We repeat: Stop attacking hospitals. The people of Gaza need access to health care. Humanitarians need access to provide health care. Cease fire!”
The Israeli military said Hamas terrorists were the targets of a strike on Gaza City’s Al Wafa hospital on Sunday, which the Palestinian Authority said killed seven people.
The Israeli attack closed Gaza’s main hospital on Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. Kamal Adwan Hospital was the last operating hospital in northern Gaza, and WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris says this ‘vital’ line of aid to the Palestinian people is gone.
Israeli forces also arrested more than 240 Palestinians, including dozens of medical staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital, on Friday. Among those arrested was its director Hussam Abu Safiya, according to local health authorities and the Israeli military.
The Israeli military said the hospital is being used as a training center for Hamas and those arrested are suspected to be soldiers. It said that Abu Safiya was taken for questioning as he was suspected of being a member of Hamas.
Tedros, who last week was caught in an Israeli strike on Yemen’s main airport that he said could cost him his life, called for Abu Safiya’s immediate release and said Al-Ahli hospital had also been attacked.
Tedros said WHO and partners have brought basic medical supplies, food and water to Gaza Hospital in Indonesia and transferred 10 critical patients to Al Shifa Hospital. Four patients were arrested while being transferred, he said.
“We urge Israel to ensure that their health care needs are covered,” Tedros said.
At least 45,541 Palestinians have been killed and 108,338 injured during Israel’s attack on Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The war was triggered by an attack led by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli figures.
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