Last Updated: December 12, 2023, 16:00 IST
An Israeli soldier patrols in Gaza City, amid the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip. (Image: Reuters)
WHO reports a patient’s death during a high-risk mission to Gaza City hospital amid Israeli checks, raising concerns over health worker detentions
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that a patient had died in an emergency convoy en route to a Gaza City hospital, during repeated and lengthy Israeli checks. This comes as the UN health agency, during the weekend had managed to deliver essential trauma and surgical supplies to the Al-Ahli hospital and to transfer 19 critical patients.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday revealed the details of the high-risk mission, saying that the WHO was “deeply concerned about prolonged checks and detention of health workers that put lives of already fragile patients at risk”. “Due to the hold-up, one patient died en route, given the grave nature of their wounds and the delay in accessing treatment,” he said.
WHO calls for protection of humanitarian space in Gaza following serious incidents in high-risk mission to transfer patients, deliver health suppliesWHO reiterates its call for the protection of health care and humanitarian assistance in #Gaza, following military checkpoint… pic.twitter.com/iCIf7Dh2Em
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 12, 2023
The war began with Hamas’s October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, with around 240 hostages taken back to Gaza. Israel has responded with an offensive that has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and killed at least 18,200 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The UN estimates 1.9 million of the territory’s 2.4 million people have been displaced by the war, half of them children. Humanitarian leaders fear the besieged territory will soon be overwhelmed by disease and starvation. Saturday’s WHO-led mission brought desperately-needed aid to Al-Ahli hospital, which had been “substantially damaged” and was in acute need of oxygen and essential medical supplies plus water, food and fuel, as well as additional health personnel.
Yesterday, @WHO and partners in #Gaza managed to deliver essential trauma and surgical supplies to Al-Ahli hospital to cover the needs of 1500 people, and to transfer 19 critical patients.This was another very high-risk mission in the vicinity of active shelling and artillery… pic.twitter.com/NBihupJMMS
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 10, 2023
Tedros had described it as a “very high-risk mission in the vicinity of active shelling and artillery fire”. On Tuesday, he said the convoy was stopped twice at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint on the way to northern Gaza and on the way back, adding that some Palestinian Red Crescent staff were detained both times and questioned for several hours.
“As the mission entered Gaza City, the aid truck carrying the medical supplies and an ambulance were hit by bullets,” he said. Tedros stressed that “the people of Gaza have the right to access health care”. “The health system must be protected. Even in war.”
(With agency inputs)
