The World Health Organization (WHO) has strongly condemned Israeli military actions in central Gaza that have damaged vital health facilities and jeopardized humanitarian operations.
In a statement, the WHO said its staff residence in Deir al-Balah was hit three times, forcing women and children to flee on foot amid active conflict. Male staff and family members were reportedly detained, handcuffed, and interrogated at gunpoint. One WHO staff member remains in Israeli custody.
Its main warehouse in the city was also severely damaged by airstrikes, later looted by desperate civilians.
“Our ability to sustain Gaza’s collapsing health system has been crippled,” said the WHO, warning that over two million people are now at increased risk.
The Israeli military said it was targeting terrorist infrastructure and that most detainees had since been released. It claimed operations were conducted with prior warnings to civilians and coordination with international agencies.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. Gaza’s Hamas run health ministry reported that 33 people, including 12 children, died from hunger in just 48 hours. Nearly 88% of the territory is now under evacuation orders or militarized zones, squeezing the population into uninhabitable areas.
UN agencies report rising malnutrition, collapsing health services, and increasing fatalities due to lack of medical care.
“Gaza is a place of death, hunger and exhaustion,” said Asma Mustafa, a mother of two displaced nine times during the war, clean water is a dream, children cry from hunger. We are living through a slow, miserable death.”
Calls are growing for international media access to document the crisis. French officials and journalist associations have urged Israel to allow safe passage for reporters, after freelance photojournalist Tamer al-Zaanin was killed during an Israeli operation, and others injured.
The ongoing Israeli campaign in Gaza began after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which left around 1,200 people dead and over 250 kidnapped. According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 59,000 people have since been killed in Israeli strikes.