The Israeli occupation army arrested the director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, and a number of medical personnel in Gaza on Thursday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that it does not have information regarding the status of four healthcare personnel who were detained in the Gaza Strip, including the director of the Al-Shifa Hospital, Anadolu news agency reported.
“Three medical personnel from the Palestine Red Crescent Society and three from the Ministry of Health were detained,” WHO said in a statement about the detentions of medical personnel by the Israeli army.
“Two of the six detained health workers have reportedly been released. We do not have information about the well-being of the four remaining health staff, including the director of Al-Shifa Hospital,” the statement added.
A Palestinian child conveys a horror scene in an interview with Abdallah Aljamal, Palestine Chronicle correspondent in war-torn Gaza.
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The statement urged Israel to comply with humanitarian and international law.
The Israeli occupation army arrested the director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, and a number of medical personnel in Gaza on Thursday.
In the statement, WHO also highlighted that the mission to evacuate patients at the hospital was “high-risk” due to ongoing intense shelling in the vicinity of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex.
“It took 20 hours for the team to complete the evacuation, including 6 hours at a checkpoint where the team and patients were screened by the Israeli Defense Force. This was despite an initial agreement to only screen participants at the origination point in Al-Shifa Hospital,” it said.
Following a six-hour delay at the security checkpoint, the convoy managed to advance as the health condition of certain patients had already worsened.
On November 18, the invading Israeli military forced most of the patients, wounded, and medical staff out of the medical complex, demanding they walk on foot to the south of the Gaza Strip. 31 premature babies were also evacuated.
Israeli forces carried out intense attacks on Palestinian hospitals in the besieged and war-torn Gaza Strip.
Hospitals and medical centers in Gaza hosted patients and thousands of people who had fled there in the early days of war, seeking safety.
(PC, ANADOLU)
