world health organizationWHO posted photos of patients being treated inside Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lakhia
The UN human rights chief says the “darkest moments” of the Gaza war are unfolding in the northern Gaza Strip, and says Israel is carrying out ground attacks to prevent Hamas fighters from reassembling. Ta.
“As we speak, the Israeli military is putting its entire population at risk of bombing, siege and starvation,” Volker Türk said.
He called on world leaders to act, saying countries have an obligation under the Geneva Conventions to ensure respect for international humanitarian law.
There was no immediate response from the Israeli military, which said it had killed “hundreds of terrorists” in Jabalia and displaced 45,000 civilians since returning to the area on October 6. Announced.
This comes after the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said he was deeply disturbed by reports that Israeli forces had attacked one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had lost contact with Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, which was overflowing with about 200 patients during the offensive in nearby Jabalia.
Gaza’s health ministry, run by Hamas, said Israeli forces had detained patients, staff and displaced persons, while Israeli forces said they were operating in the “area” based on information “about the presence of terrorists.” He said that
Hundreds of Palestinians have reportedly been killed and tens of thousands displaced since Israeli forces returned to Jabalia.
Residents who refuse or are unable to comply with Israel’s evacuation orders are said to be living in increasingly desperate conditions, lacking food and other necessities.
The United Nations human rights chief warned on Friday that the entire population of northern Gaza is under “relentless” bombing, with hundreds of thousands of people forced to move with no guarantee of return.
“The situation is getting worse day by day, unimaginable,” Türk said.
“The Israeli government’s policies and practices in northern Gaza risk emptying the area of all Palestinians. We are facing something sexual.”
He also said that it is completely unacceptable that Palestinian armed groups are reportedly operating among civilians, including in IDP shelters, and causing harm to civilians.
Mr. Turk said countries around the world that are party to the Geneva Conventions must act now to uphold them.
“These are universally accepted and binding norms developed to protect the bare minimum of humanity. Putting the protection of civilians and human rights first and not abandoning the bare minimum of humanity. I’d like to have it,” he said.
Importantly, Türk added that if there is a risk of genocide, all countries have a legal obligation to prevent it. Until now, senior U.N. officials have largely avoided using the word genocide in reference to Gaza.
Israel has long accused the United Nations of bias and rejected accusations that its military committed war crimes. He also vehemently denied that he was committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
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WHO team and Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances evacuated some patients from Kamal Adwan Hospital on Thursday night
On Friday morning, the Gaza Health Ministry announced in a statement that Israeli forces had “stormed” Kamal Adwan Hospital and were holding hundreds of patients, medical staff and displaced people inside.
The ministry said in the afternoon that displaced men were forced to take off their clothes and some were arrested.
Many medical staff, including the hospital’s director, Dr. Hassam Abu Safiyah, have also not been able to be contacted since they were called to inspect Israeli troops stationed in the courtyard.
A video posted on social media late Thursday showed Dr. Abu Safiya talking on the phone as he walked through a crowded hospital ward where windows appeared to be broken and ceilings damaged.
“Instead of receiving aid, we receive tanks. Tanks are shelling buildings,” he says.
“In the middle of the night, occupation forces’ tanks and bulldozers arrived at the hospital. (Israeli forces) terrorizing civilians, wounded and children began,” head of nursing Eid Sabaha said in an audio memo to Reuters early Friday morning. “It was,” he said. They started firing at the hospital. ”
He said Israeli forces withdrew when a WHO delegation arrived in an ambulance and evacuated some patients. However, he added that tanks then returned to the surrounding area and opened fire on the hospital, attacking oxygen storage before the military launched an assault and ordered staff and patients to leave.
The ministry said the hospital’s generator had stopped, an oxygen station had been damaged and two children had died in intensive care, but there was no similar report from doctors or the WHO.
The Israeli military said it was not aware of any tanks firing at the hospital.
Dr Tedros confirmed that a WHO team arrived at the hospital on Thursday night “amid hostilities in the neighborhood” and transferred 23 patients and 26 caregivers to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. They also delivered units of blood, trauma and surgical supplies.
However, it added that the UN agency has been unable to contact staff at the hospital since reports of the attack emerged.
“Kamal Adwan Hospital is overflowing with nearly 200 patients, with a constant stream of horrific traumatic incidents. It is also full with hundreds of people seeking shelter,” he warned.
“We demand an immediate ceasefire and the protection of hospitals, patients, medical professionals and humanitarian workers.”
In a statement, the Israeli military said it was “operating in the area of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia, based on intelligence information regarding the presence of terrorists in the area and terrorist infrastructure.”
“In the weeks leading up to the operation, (the military) facilitated the evacuation of patients from the area while maintaining emergency services,” it added.
On Friday, the Israeli army’s chief of staff also visited Jabalia and informed troops that they were attacking Hamas.
General Helj Halevi said, “Because we are better, because we are more justified, because we are more powerful, another achievement of Jabalia is being lost.”
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has called on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to pressure Israel over the deteriorating humanitarian situation and mass displacement of civilians in the north.
“If you look at northern Gaza, there is definitely ethnic cleansing going on and it has to stop,” he said at the start of a meeting in London.
Many Palestinians believe that the Israeli military is carrying out the so-called “General Plan” in the north. The plan is to forcibly relocate all of the estimated 400,000 civilians to the south, then surround the remaining Hamas fighters.
The Israeli military denies such plans and insists it is ensuring civilians are safe from danger.
Mr. Safadi also warned that the Middle East was on the “brink of regional war,” adding that the situation was getting worse each time he met with Mr. Blinken. “It’s not because we’re not trying hard enough, it’s because the Israeli government doesn’t listen to us,” he added. Everyone, it has to stop. ”
“The only way to save the region from this situation is for Israel to stop its invasions of Gaza and Lebanon, and stop its unilateral and illegal measures in the West Bank, which will also push the situation into an abyss. “We are pushing it down,” he said.
Following a diplomatic visit to the Middle East, Blinken met with Arab leaders and foreign ministers in Britain.
Despite progress on a ceasefire and hostage agreement in Gaza stalling for weeks, the United States is believed to be working on a post-conflict plan for Gaza in an effort to gain buy-in from Arab countries.
Blinken said he was holding important talks “about ending the war in Gaza and charting a course for what comes next.” He also said “there is a real sense of urgency to get a diplomatic solution” to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel announced Thursday that it will send the Mossad intelligence chief to Doha on Sunday to meet with the CIA chief and Qatari prime minister, amid renewed efforts to restart Gaza ceasefire and hostage release negotiations.
The announcement came after a Hamas delegation met with Egyptian security officials in Cairo. Hamas said the terms of the agreement, including the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, remain unchanged.
Israel launched an operation to annihilate Hamas in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which left approximately 1,200 people dead and 251 hostages taken.
More than 42,840 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-controlled region’s health ministry.
