Tedros reported that the team encountered scenes of devastation, including several casualties and severe damage to most structures within the hospital compound.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Saturday that the Gaza Strip’s largest medical is unlikely to regain even basic functionality soon.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed this grim assessment after a WHO-led mission visited Al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City, revealing extensive destruction from recent raids.
“Even restoring minimal functionality in the short term seems implausible,” Tedros stated on X
“WHO and partners managed to reach Al-Shifa — once the backbone of the health system in Gaza, which is now an empty shell with human graves after the latest siege,” he added.
Al-Shifa Hospital, once a cornerstone of Gaza’s health system, now lies in ruins, its vital infrastructure decimated.
Tedros reported that the team encountered scenes of devastation, including several casualties and severe damage to most structures within the hospital compound.
Efforts by WHO and its partners to revive basic services at Al-Shifa have been thwarted, leaving Gaza’s population once again without access to critical healthcare. Tedros emphasized the urgent need for a comprehensive assessment by engineers to determine the safety of the remaining structures for potential future use.
With the threat of famine, disease outbreaks, and increased trauma injuries looming large, WHO called for immediate measures to safeguard the remaining healthcare facilities in Gaza.
Tedros stressed the necessity of protecting health workers and humanitarian personnel, alongside ensuring unimpeded passage for humanitarian aid and urgent ceasefire negotiations.
Gaza Horror – Hundreds of Bodies Found as Israeli Forces Withdraw from Al-Shifa Hospital
Israel declared its withdrawal from Al-Shifa Hospital and its surroundings on April 1, following 14 days of relentless raids starting on March 18.
This recent assault adds to the hospital’s woes, as it had previously endured a siege and raid in November, resulting in significant damage to its courtyards, buildings, and vital medical equipment.
Gaza Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 33,173 Palestinians have been killed, and 75,815 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’
(PC, Anadolu)
