The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called on Monday for an end to attacks on hospitals in Gaza after Israel struck one and attacked another in recent days.
“Gaza’s hospitals have once again become battlefields and the health system is under serious threat,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a message on X.
“We repeat: stop the attacks on hospitals. Gazans need access to health care. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid. Ceasefire!”
The Israeli military said Hamas militants were the target of a strike on Al Wafa Hospital in Gaza City on Sunday, which the Palestinian Civil Defense said killed seven people.
An Israeli raid closed a major hospital in Gaza on Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced. Kamal Adwan Hospital was the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, and WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said this “essential” lifeline for local Palestinians had disappeared.
Israeli forces also arrested more than 240 Palestinians on Friday, including dozens of medical staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital. Among those arrested was its director Hussam Abu Safiya, according to the enclave’s health authorities and the Israeli army.
The Israeli military said the hospital was used as a command center for Hamas military operations and that those arrested were suspected militants. He said Abu Safiya was questioned because 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 have cost him his life, called for the immediate release of Abu Safiya and said Al-Hospital Ahli had also been the victim of attacks.
Tedros said WHO and partners had delivered basic medical supplies, food and water to the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza and transferred 10 critical patients to Al Shifa Hospital. Four patients were detained during the transfer, he said.
“We urge Israel to ensure that its health care needs and rights are respected,” Tedros said.
At least 45,541 Palestinians were killed and 108,338 injured during the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The war was sparked by a Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli counts.
