WHO says its staff residence, warehouse in central Gaza was attacked

Al-Awda hospital in the central Gaza Strip. [AFP]

World Health Organization decried Israeli attacks Monday on its staff residence and its main warehouse in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah.

"WHO's staff residence in Deir el-Balah, Gaza, was attacked three times today as well as its main warehouse," the UN health agency's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.

"Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi (in southern Gaza) amid active conflict," he said, adding that "male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint".

Tedros said that 32 WHO staff and family members had been evacuated to the agency's office once access became possible.

At the same time, two WHO staff and two family members were detained, he said, and while three were later released, "one staff remains in detention".

"WHO demands the immediate release of the detained staff and protection of all its staff," he insisted.

His comments came as Deir el-Balah faced intense shelling after Israel's military on Sunday ordered residents to leave, warning of imminent action in an area where it had not previously operated.

"The latest evacuation order in Deir el-Balah has affected several WHO premises, compromising our ability to operate in Gaza and pushing the health system further towards collapse," Tedros warned.

He highlighted that WHO's main warehouse located in Deir al Balah was "within the evacuation zone, and was damaged yesterday (Sunday) when an attack caused explosions and a fire inside".

This was deepening an already dire crisis, Tedros warned.

"With the main warehouse nonfunctional and the majority of medical supplies in Gaza depleted, WHO is severely constrained in adequately supporting hospitals, emergency medical teams and health partners, already critically short on medicines, fuel, and equipment," he said.

The WHO chief said his agency was urgently calling on its member states "to help ensure a sustained and regular flow of medical supplies into Gaza".

"As the lead agency for health, compromising WHO's operations is crippling the entire health response in Gaza," he said.

"A ceasefire is not just necessary, it is overdue."