WHO denounces that no official evacuation orders were issued during Israeli attacks on Gaza

MADRID Dec. 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The World Health Organization (WHO) denounced this Friday that during the attacks by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the north of the Gaza Strip, around the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which resulted in the death of four health care workers, no official evacuation orders were issued.

“There was a shelling around the hospital (…) Around 04:00 local time, an IDF attack was seen outside. Through people they were informed and told that everyone had to go outside. People started to climb the wall and escape,” said the representative of the UN health agency for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Rik Peeperkorn, in a video broadcast on the social network X.

“There was no official evacuation order,” the organization also maintained, in reference to attacks that, according to the hospital director, left a “catastrophic” situation in the facilities and the surrounding area and the death of four medical workers.

Peeperkorn has also stressed that “panic attracted fire from the IDF.” “There are reports of deaths and arrests,” he added, adding that there are no surgeons left in the hospital.

The hospital has been facing shortages of medical supplies and equipment due to blockades imposed since the start of the Israeli military operation in Gaza, according to the WHO. An international medical team sent last week was forced to withdraw after just one week of intervention.

The UN office has also reported that 58 percent of humanitarian missions led by the organization since October 2023 have been denied or prevented, making medical evacuations and aid delivery even more difficult.

In addition, they have reported, a total of 5,325 patients have been evacuated since the start of the conflict, but more than 12,000 people still require urgent evacuation.

For his part, the regional director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Edouard Beigbeder, has said that “the humanitarian response in Gaza is on the brink of total collapse.”

“They are not being provided with security or access to essential humanitarian aid as explicitly required by international law. The continued normalization of this horror must be translated into actions to stop it. Enough is enough,” he denounced.

Israel launched its offensive against Gaza after attacks on October 7, 2023, which left nearly 1,200 dead and about 250 kidnapped. Gazan authorities, controlled by Hamas, have reported nearly 44,600 deaths, while around 800 Palestinians have died at the hands of Israeli forces and in attacks carried out by settlers since then in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.