UPDATE - WHO chief 'terribly worried' over situation at northern Gaza hospital

ADDS MORE REMARKS; EDITS THROUGH

By Burak Bir and Beyza Binnur Donmez

LONDON/GENEVA (AA) – Any hostilities or militarization of Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip endangers health services, the World Health Organization's (WHO) director-general warned on Monday, stressing that health care facilities should never be used as battlegrounds.

"We are terribly worried about the situation at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern #Gaza, which is endangering health workers, patients and civilians," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X, emphasizing that hospitals should never be battlegrounds.

Early on Monday, the Israeli army announced that its forces stormed the hospital, which houses thousands of ill and wounded patients, as well as displaced people.

According to Israeli public broadcaster KAN, around 80 Palestinians were detained from the facility.

Tedros said the hospital has only recently restored minimal health services in northern Gaza, which is "endangering health workers, patients, and civilians," and that any hostilities or militarization of the facility would “jeopardize health services, access for ambulances, and delivery of life-saving supplies."

"Hospitals must be protected," he said, reiterating his call for a cease-fire in the besieged enclave.

In a separate post, he drew attention to the hunger situation in Gaza by calling it "devastating."

"Famine is imminent and it could have grave immediate and long-term health consequences. There was no reason for this catastrophe to happen," the UN agency chief stressed.

Noting that before the war began on Oct. 7, malnutrition was a "rare occurrence" in Gaza, Tedros said: "Now, people are dying of hunger, many more are sick."

He added: "Over a million people are at risk unless significantly more food is allowed to enter Gaza. The only way to reverse this is through peace."

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 31,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in the enclave, and nearly 73,800 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water, and medicine, while 60%of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the ICJ. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.