By Euronews
Published on
•Updated
ADVERTISEMENT
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has condemned what it described as a “blatant attack” on its facilities and staff in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah on Monday.
The international organisation said Israeli forces attacked its staff residence and main warehouse, causing extensive damage, endangering the lives of civilians and severely hampering its humanitarian response in the Strip.
The staff residence and the families living there were subject to three separate attacks, one of which caused a fire and extensive damage, according to the WHO.
Israeli forces also stormed the building during the shelling, forcing women and children to leave on foot towards al-Mawasi, a coastal area that Israel has declared a safe zone.
The statement added that Israeli soldiers tied up male crew members and their families, stripped them naked, and interrogated them at gunpoint.
“Two WHO staff and two of family members were detained. They were later released, while one staff remains in detention,” it said.
UN teams evacuated 32 WHO staff members and their families to the WHO office in Deir al-Balah once access was possible, the statement said.
Key warehouse bombed and looted
The WHO confirmed that its main warehouse in Deir al-Balah, located in an area subject to an Israeli evacuation order, was attacked, resulting in explosions and a fire.
The facility was then looted by desperate locals.
The loss of this vital stockpile, coupled with severe shortages of medicines, equipment and fuel, threatens a near total collapse of Gaza’s health sector.
The WHO demanded the immediate release of its detained staff member and the safety of its staff deployed at more than 50 sites in Deir al-Balah, the coordinates of which had previously been shared with the Israeli military.
It described the attacks as “compromising our ability to operate in Gaza and pushing the health system further towards collapse.”
The WHO pointed out that it is “the lead agency for health” and attacks on its facilities are “crippling the entire health response in Gaza.”
The statement closed with: “A ceasefire is not just necessary, it is overdue.”
IDF operations escalate
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to carry out the first large-scale ground operation in Deir al-Balah since the start of the war with Hamas more than 21 months ago, causing the displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians amid warnings of a severe hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, the IDF ordered the immediate evacuation of six blocks in southern Deir al-Balah, warning that it would act “with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure,” directing an estimated 50,000-80,000 residents to head towards the al-Mawasi safe zone in southern Gaza.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirmed that the organisation’s staff will remain in Deir al-Balah despite the evacuation orders and are deployed in dozens of locations whose coordinates have already been provided to Israel.
