On Tuesday, the head of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu condemned the strikes on the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) headquarters in Gaza, branding them “unconscionable”.
WHO chief reaffirmed that health must never be a target during conflicts, saying that Gazans were facing a “dire humanitarian catastrophe.”
The headquarters of PRCS headquarters in the southern city of Khan Younis was targeted for the third time in less than a week, resulting in “five casualties and three injuries” among displaced people who had sought refuge there and at a nearby hospital.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the UN health agency’s chief said: “I deplore today’s strikes on the PRCS-run Al-Amal hospital.”
Moreover, Tedros reported that WHO staff and colleagues from the UN humanitarian agency OCHA carried out a mission to the facilities on Tuesday, where they witnessed extensive damage and displacement of civilians”.
Tedros further noted that 14,000 people were sheltering at the hospital.
“Many of them have now left, and those remaining are extremely fearful for their safety and planning to leave a place they had turned to for refuge and protection,” he said, adding that health facilities and people seeking care must be protected, at all times, under international humanitarian law.
“Today’s bombardments are unconscionable. Gaza’s health system is already on its knees, with health and aid workers continuously stymied in their efforts to save lives due to the hostilities,” Tedros stressed.
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