80-day-long Siege of Northern Gaza Puts Lives of 75,000 Palestinians at Risk: WHO

Gaza, MINA – Israel’s more than 80-day-long siege of northern Gaza is putting the lives of 75,000 Palestinians still in the area at risk, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement on Saturday, Anadolu Agency reported.

The UN agency’s statement came after an Israeli attack on the Kamal Adwan Hospital resulted in the loss of the last fully functional medical facility in northern Gaza.

Nearly 50 Palestinians were killed on Thursday in an Israeli airstrike on a building opposite the Kamal Adwan Hospital headquarters, including three medical staff and workers.

“WHO is deeply shocked by yesterday’s attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital, which rendered the last major health facility in northern Gaza inoperable,” it said.

“Initial reports indicate that several areas of the hospital were burned and severely damaged during the attack, including the laboratory, surgical unit, engineering and maintenance departments, operating theatres, and medical warehouse.”

It added: “Earlier in the day, twelve patients and one female health staff were reportedly forcibly evacuated to the destroyed and non-functional Indonesian Hospital where it is impossible to provide any care, while most staff, stable patients, and companions were transferred to nearby locations.”

In addition, reports indicate that several people were stripped of their clothes and forced to walk towards southern Gaza, the statement said.

For the past two months, the area around the hospital has remained “highly unstable,” with attacks on the hospital and health workers occurring almost daily, it added.

“An urgent WHO mission to the Indonesian Hospital is being planned for tomorrow to safely transfer patients to southern Gaza to continue treatment.”

The raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital follows a series of escalating access restrictions and repeated attacks, the statement said, adding that since early October 2024, WHO has verified at least 50 attacks on health facilities, both inside and near hospitals.

Since health facilities are supposedly off-limits to hostilities, such attacks potentially violate the rules of war.

WHO also called for urgent efforts to ensure that hospitals in northern Gaza are supported and able to function again.

Israeli attacks have killed nearly 45,500 people in Gaza since 7 October 2023, reducing much of the enclave to rubble. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)