The World Health Organisation has strongly condemned the attack on Al Ahli Arab hospital in the north of the Gaza strip saying that this horror has to stop. "Savage attacks” on Israel last week “cannot justify what is happening to the ordinary people of Palestine, this has to stop,” the WHO said.
The hospital was operational, with patients, health and care givers, and internally displaced people sheltering there. "Early reports indicate hundreds of fatalities and injuries,” the organisation noted.
The hospital was one of 20 in the north of the Gaza Strip facing evacuation orders from the Israeli military. “The order for evacuation has been impossible to carry out given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, and lack of ambulances, staff, health system bed capacity, and alternative shelter for those displaced,” the organisation said.
The WHO said there is need for the immediate active protection of civilians and health care. “Evacuation orders must be reversed. International humanitarian law must be abided by, which means health care must be actively protected and never targeted.”
WHO Representatives called for opening the Rafah corridor as soon as possible to enable access of aid to thousands in Gaza. “I want to raise a plea, a plea that what is needed in Gaza now is immediate access. This corridor at Rafah needs to be opened as soon as possible. There’s an absolute need for fuel, water, food and of course medicines and medical supplies. The supplies are ready, they are at the border waiting to get in. There is an absolute need for this. This horror has to stop,” said Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative, occupied Palestinian territory.
Noting that any attack on health workers in this situation is a violation of international law, Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme said, "The very place that can save the life of an injured civilian, can become a place of death and those health workers who risk their lives to save people are at risk of death so in that context, its exceptionally important that everybody works to protect healthcare installations. They are well identified, everyone knows where they are and they need to be de-conflicted and protected."
Acknowledging the suffering and terror that was caused to the people of southern Israel and all over Israel last week, Ryan reiterated that it cannot be used as a justification for what is happening to the ordinary people of Palestine.
“There needs to be safety guarantees so that aid can get to where it needs to go. So the operation is complex, it’s not just an issue of opening or closing the gate at the border. It’s going to require very, very high-level diplomacy between multiple countries. The violence has to stop. The bombing has to stop and we have to get assistance to the people of Gaza,” he added.
