The WHO on Monday said that its facilities in Gaza had come under Israeli attack, echoing calls from Western nations for an immediate ceasefire as Israel expanded military operations to the central city of Deir al-Balah.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Israeli military had entered the UN agency’s staff residence, forced women and children to evacuate on foot, and handcuffed, stripped and interrogated male staff at gunpoint.
Earlier, more than two dozen Western nations called for an immediate end to the war, saying suffering there had “reached new depths.”
Photo: Reuters
After more than 21 months of fighting that have triggered catastrophic humanitarian conditions for Gaza’s more than 2 million people, Israeli allies the UK, France, Australia, Canada and 21 other nations, plus the EU, in a joint statement said that the war “must end now.”
“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths,” the signatories added, urging a negotiated ceasefire, the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants and the free flow of much-needed aid.
Tedros, who also condemned an attack on the WHO’s main warehouse in Deir al-Balah, echoed that call.
“A ceasefire is not just necessary, it is overdue,” he wrote on social media.
Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar condemned the joint statement, saying that any international pressure should be on Hamas, while US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called the joint statement “disgusting.”
Key mediator Egypt endorsed the message.
The Western plea came with Deir al-Balah under intense shelling on Monday, after Israel’s military the day before had ordered residents to leave, warning of imminent action in an area where it had not previously operated.
In their statement, the Western nations also denounced Israel’s aid delivery model in Gaza, saying it was “dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.”
The UN has recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food since late May, when Israel began easing a more than two-month aid blockade.
“We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food,” the joint statement said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned through his spokesman the “accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions,” noting “the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition.”
Since the start of the war, nearly all of Gaza’s population has been displaced at least once by repeated Israeli evacuation orders.
The latest order means that 87.8 percent of the territory is now under evacuation orders or within Israeli militarized zones.
Mai Elawawda, communications officer in Gaza for the UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, said the situation was “extremely critical,” describing shelling “all around our office.”
The families of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel said they were “shocked and alarmed” by reports of evacuation orders for parts of Deir al-Balah.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum demanded political and military authorities “clearly explain why the offensive in the Deir al-Balah area does not put the hostages at serious risk.”
Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’ attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
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