WHO Appeals For End to Attacks On Gaza’s Hospitals

The head of the World Health Organization has called for an end to attacks on hospitals in Gaza.

“Hospitals in Gaza have once again become battlegrounds, and the health system is under severe threat,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

His warning came after the last functioning hospital in besieged northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan, was raided and forcibly evacuated by the Israeli military on Friday, and two hospitals in Gaza City were attacked on Sunday. The military said two of the sites were being used as Hamas command centres.

Dr Tedros also joined rights groups and relatives calling for the immediate release of Kamal Adwan’s director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, who was detained by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that his hospital was a Hamas “stronghold” and that troops had killed about 20 “terrorists” and detained 240 others during the raid. It added that Dr Abu Safiya was among those taken for questioning and that he was “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative.”

The military did not provide evidence for the allegations, which Hamas dismissed as “lies.”

US-based MedGlobal condemned the detention of Dr Abu Safiya, who was its lead physician in Gaza, as “not only unjust” but also “a violation of international humanitarian law, which upholds the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones.”

Dr Abu Safiya’s family expressed concern about his health, saying he was still recovering from severe injuries sustained in an attack last month and that he was likely to be suffering from the cold because he had been forced to strip off his clothes.

Hamas also dismissed the Israeli allegations as “lies.”

Dr Tedros said Kamal Adwan was out of service following the raid and that its critically ill patients had been transferred to the “out of function” Indonesian hospital, which he warned was severely damaged and had no ability to provide care.

“Amid ongoing chaos in northern Gaza, WHO and partners today delivered basic medical and hygiene supplies, food and water to Indonesian hospital and transferred 10 critical patients to al-Shifa Hospital [in Gaza City],” he said.

“Four patients were detained during the transfer. We urge Israel to ensure their health care needs and rights are upheld.”

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said one of those detained patients was in a critical condition and that seven patients and 10 medical staff remained at the Indonesian hospital.

Israeli forces launched a major ground offensive in the northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun on 6 October, saying it was stopping Hamas from regrouping there The UN says the areas are under near-total siege and that humanitarian assistance has been largely denied by Israeli forces for more than 11 weeks.

Dr Tedros also said al-Ahli Hospital and al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza City “also faced attacks” and were both damaged.

BBC/Shakirat Sadiq