The World Health Organization denounced the deadly strike on a Gaza hospital on Tuesday and demanded immediate protection of people and health-care services in the territory.
“WHO strongly condemns the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
“The hospital was operational, with patients, health- and care-givers, and internally-displaced people sheltering there. Early reports indicate hundreds of fatalities and injuries.”
According to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territories, Israeli airstrikes on a hospital compound housing displaced persons killed at least 200 people.
The Israeli army said the strike was a rocket misfired by the Gaza-based militant group Islamic Jihad.
WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said any hit on health care was a violation of international law.
“The attribution and causation of that, it’s impossible for WHO to be able to determine,” he told a press conference. “That’s for others.”
However, the health facilities in Gaza “are well identified, everyone knows where they are and they need to be deconflicted and protected. Any violation of that has got to be condemned”, he said.
Violence halt ‘cannot wait’
Israel has been attacking targets in Gaza since Hamas terrorists from the Strip launched an onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, sparking a war that has killed dozens on both sides.
The WHO demanded that the shelling of Gaza cease and that the Rafah border crossing with Egypt be opened so that help may enter the besieged and blockaded region.
Ryan ruled out the possibility of air dropping aid into the Gaza Strip.
“The volume of material one can deliver in an air drop is so much lower than what can be delivered by trucks and overland,” he explained.
“The safest and most effective way to get aid to the people of Gaza right now is the Rafah crossing.”
However, even if the border opened, “the conditions do not exist right now inside Gaza to bring aid in and deliver it safely. There must be a cessation of bombing,” Ryan said.
“This cannot wait,” he said, adding: “Every second we wait, we lose lives.
“The violence on all sides has to stop.”
Evacuation ‘impossible’
Israel’s army has told people in the north of the Gaza Strip — nearly half of its 2.4-million population — to head south to safety, ahead of an expected ground offensive.
The Al Ahli Arab hospital was one of 20 in northern Gaza facing evacuation orders, the WHO said.
“The order for evacuation has been impossible to carry out given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, and lack of ambulances, staff, health system bed capacity, and alternative shelter for those displaced,” it said.
“WHO calls for the immediate active protection of civilians and health care. Evacuation orders must be reversed.”