UNITED NATIONS: Four days after the Israeli military stormed the Al-Shifa hospital, the biggest in the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization (WHO) described the complex as a “death zone” where several patients had died because medical services had been shut down, as the UN chief called for a ceasefire amid relentless attacks on the besieged enclave.
Top UN officials echoed that call to improve conditions for Gaza’s 2.3 million people, 1.7 million of whom have been displaced since October 7. Since then, more than 12,000 Palestinians have been killed in besieged Gaza.
“This war is having a staggering and unacceptable number of civilian casualties, including women and children, every day,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement on Sunday.
“This must stop. I reiterate my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” the UN chief said.
Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said in a statement on Sunday that: “The horrendous events of the past 48 hours in Gaza beggar belief.”
“The killing of so many people at schools turned shelters, hundreds fleeing for their lives from Al-Shifa Hospital amid continuing displacement of hundreds of thousands in southern Gaza are actions which fly in the face of the basic protections civilians must be afforded under international law,” Turk said, stressing that failing to adhere to these rules may constitute war crimes.
At Al-Shifa hospital, there were 291 patients, including 32 babies in extremely critical condition, WHO, the Geneva-based U.N. agency said in a statement late Saturday after Israeli forces allowed a U.N. team to tour the facility for an hour. Earlier in the day, hundreds of patients and civilians sheltering at the hospital had fled south.
The W.H.O. said that the movement came after an evacuation order from the Israeli military. But Israeli officials said that they had agreed to a request from the hospital authorities to allow safe passage for people who wanted to leave Al-Shifa, and that they had brought food and water into the complex.
Israeli officials claim the complex and tunnels underneath have been used by Hamas to shelter fighters and weapons, and to plan for attacks, including the one on October 7. Both the Palestinians and Al-Shifa officials have denied the accusation that Hamas had a command center under the hospital.
Israel has yet to provide conclusive proof of a military base at the hospital. The United States, Israel’s closes ally, has backed the assertion about the tunnels.
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