WHO chief urges Israel to reverse Al Awda Hospital evacuation demand

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday urged Israel to reverse its demand for the evacuation of Al Awda Hospital in the Gaza Strip, saying moving patients would put their lives at immediate risk.

"We implore Israel to reverse this decision. Moving the patients would put their lives at immediate risk, as well as the lives of the health workers," Tedros Ghebreyesus said on X.

According to Doctors Without Borders International, Israel gave Al Awda Hospital in Gaza just two hours to evacuate first, then postponed the demand to evacuate until 6:00 a.m. local time (0300GMT). “The evacuation of patients remains complicated.”

Tedros, in a separate post, also pleaded for "immediate reversal" of the "Gaza evacuation order to protect people’s health and reduce suffering."

"Due to ongoing airstrikes and closed borders, civilians have no safe place to go," he said, adding: "We appeal for the urgent establishment of a humanitarian corridor for safe aid delivery."

In earlier remarks, Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesperson, told a UN press briefing in Geneva that WHO has joined the wider UN in appealing to Israel to "immediately rescind orders for the evacuation within the next 24 hours of 1.1 million people living north of Wadi Gaza, and an end to hostilities and violence in the Gaza Strip, where unimaginable human suffering is unfolding."

The Israeli army on Friday called on all residents of northern Gaza to evacuate their homes and head to the south.

In a dramatic escalation of Middle East tensions, Israeli forces launched a sustained and forceful military campaign against the Gaza Strip, a response to a military offensive by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in Israeli territories.

The conflict began last Saturday when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel, a multi-pronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel via land, sea and air.

Hamas said the operation was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers' growing violence against Palestinians.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip.

Israel's response has extended into cutting water and electricity supplies to Gaza, further worsening the living conditions in an area that has reeled under a crippling siege since 2007.