The World Health Organization condemns Israeli attacks against Gaza facilities

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that Israel’s offensive in central gas has compromised its efforts to continue to work after its facilities fell into an attack.

The UN Agency has accused the forces of attacking a building that houses their employees and their families in the city of Deir Al Balah on Monday and abuse those who are sheltering there. His main warehouse was also attacked and destroyed.

The Israeli military has not yet commented.

His first major terrestrial operation in Deir al-Bala from the beginning of the war with Hamas 21 months ago has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, against the backdrop of warnings about a severe hunger crisis throughout the territory.

The UN said on Monday that it was receiving reports of malnourished people arriving at clinics and hospitals in extremely poor health, while Hamas Health Ministry said 19 people had been killed by malnutrition since Saturday.

On Sunday, the Israeli military ordered the immediate evacuation of six urban blocks to South Deir Al-Bala, warning that it would work “with great force to destroy the opponent’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure.”

The expected 50,000 to 80,000 people living in the affected areas were instructed to head south to the Al Mavasi area in the southern part of the territory.

The UN Humanitarian Office said UN staff would remain in Deir al-Bala, despite the evacuation order, distributed in dozens of premises whose coordinates were shared with Israel, and stressed that they should be protected.

On Monday night, the WHO said he claimed to have convicted “in the strongest conditions” attacks against his facilities.

It states that the WHO residence has been attacked three times and that staff and their families, including children, are “at serious danger and traumatized after air strikes cause fire and significant damage.”

“The Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot to Al Mavasi against the backdrop of active conflict. Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, questioned and examined under shooting,” added.

“Two WHO employees and two family members were detained. Three were later released, while one staff member remained in custody.”

The WHO demanded the immediate release of his detained employee and the protection of his other staff, who were moved with his families to his office in Deir al-Bala.

The WHO main warehouse in the city was damaged after “Attack caused explosions and fire inside,” the organization said. Later, the warehouse was plundered by desperate crowds, he added.

The agency did not attribute the blame to the attack, but said it was “part of the model of systematic destruction of health establishments”.

The WHO warned that his operational presence in Gaza was “now compromised, crippling efforts to maintain a collapsing health system and to push the survival further out of reach for more than two million people.”

There is still no comment from the Israeli military about attacks on the WHO premises or the wider offensive in Deir al-Balah.

But on Monday, the Haarets newspaper in Israel announced that the troops were operating a “creation of a corridor that would cross the city by detaching it from the Al Mavasi area and preventing the free movement between the refugee camps of the central gas where the Israeli army has no presence on the ground.”

According to the UN, about 87.8% of the gas is now covered by Israeli evacuation orders or is in Israeli militarized zones, leaving 2.1 million population, pressed in about 46 square kilometers where the main services have collapsed.

Israeli sources say that the possible presence of Israeli hostages held by Hamas is one of the reasons Deir Al-Bala has not been targeted by the offensive so far. At least 20 of the 50 hostages who are still in captivity are thought to be alive.

The hostage families expressed concern that the offensive could endanger them.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to an attack led by Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and 251 others were hostage.

Since then, at least 59,029 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the territory.