The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said conditions at hospitals in Gaza are ‘beyond description’, after a major facility was put out of service by an Israeli air strike.
Spokeswoman Dr Margaret Harris said the WHO was seeing ‘attack after attack’ on hospitals and healthcare workers, and medical supplies were critically low due to Israel’s blockade of the territory, BBC News reported.
On Sunday, staff at Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said an Israeli strike had destroyed its laboratory and damaged its emergency room.
They did not report any direct casualties, but said a child died due to disruption of care.
The hospital is run by the Church of England, whose bishops said they shared ‘grief, sorrow and outrage’ with Palestinians over the attack.
A ceasefire in Gaza ended when Israel resumed its air and ground campaign four weeks ago, saying that military pressure would force Hamas to release the hostages it is still holding.
Al Ahli Hospital was struck by two missiles around midnight on Sunday – the fifth time it has been hit since the beginning of the war.
Later, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN agency had been told by Al Ahli’s director that the emergency room, laboratory, emergency room X-ray machines and the pharmacy were ‘destroyed’.
The hospital was forced to move 50 patients to other hospitals, but 40 patients in a critical condition could not be moved, he added.
“Hospitals are protected under international humanitarian law. Attacks on health care must stop. Once again we repeat: patients, health workers and hospitals must be protected.”
Hamas condemned the attack as a ‘savage crime’.
The Church of England’s House of Bishops said in a statement they were ‘dismayed that hospitals have become battlegrounds in Gaza’ and that Israel had ‘yet to provide clear and compelling evidence to substantiate its claim’ that the hospital was being used by Hamas.
“Against that backdrop, we call for an independent, thorough and transparent investigation into this attack as well as the alleged misuse of the hospital.”
On March 23, 15 emergency workers, including eight Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics, were shot and killed by Israeli troops in nearby Rafah as they responded to a report of wounded people.
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