Health Ministry in Gaza halts full coordination with WHO in hospital evacuation

By Mohamed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The Palestinian Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip decided on Thursday to stop coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the evacuation of hospitals in the besieged enclave.

The move came to object the detention of a number of medical staff of Al-Shifa Hospital during the evacuation process that is taking place in coordination with the WHO.

“We decided to stop full coordination with the World Health Organization on the issue of evacuating the wounded and medical teams until a report is submitted on what happened with the occupation army arresting medical teams,” Ashraf al-Qudra, the ministry’s spokesman, told reporters in Khan Younis city.

Earlier, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority said the Israeli army had detained the director of Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

"We were informed by the United Nations that there is coordination, through the World Health Organization, to evacuate those in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, which is subject to constant siege, storming, destruction, and deprivation of its food, medicine, and security,” al-Qudra said.

He went on to say: “Therefore, a convoy from the United Nations, represented by the WHO, moved yesterday to evacuate part of the patients and medical staff who were exposed inside a hospital to the most horrific Nazi practices.

“But we were surprised that the convoy was stopped yesterday (Wednesday) at the occupation checkpoint separating the northern and southern Gaza Strip for about seven hours,” al-Qudra added.

He stressed that “the occupation army dealt with the wounded and medical staff during the arrest with extreme violence, and the matter ended with the arrest of a number of medical staff, including the director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, Mohammad Abu Salamiya.”

Al-Qudra held both Israel and the UN responsible for the arrest of the medical staff.