WHO Spokesperson interview
(Hagai Dekel)
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday the forced evacuation of hospitals in the Gaza Strip would put the lives of hundreds of patients at risk. "Twenty-three hospitals have been ordered to evacuate in Gaza City and north Gaza, and forced evacuation in these circumstances would put the lives of hundreds of patients in a life threatening situation," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. He also reiterated the call for a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war to help the thousands injured, as well as the chronically sick. Israel has asked for hospital ships to be sent to the area to provide as alternatives to the hospitals in the Strip
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The WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told Ynet in an interview that his organization had no information about hostages held in Gaza but said "We can only assume that the hostages are not in a better situation than the people in Gaza right now. So its a lack of water which will impact them most likely as well. There's hardly any fresh water in Gaza right now. There's hardly any food," he said.
Linmeier said the WHO had no information about the hostages because that is under the purview of the ICRC but said civilians should never be targeted in war. He said he completely understands the position of Israel after suffering the losses on October 7 when mostly women and children were victims of the Hamas attack.
"There's a really interesting data. So the official figures we have right now from from Israel is that in Israel 1405 people have died so far civilians, and that's 70% of these are women and children, so 70%. Women and children. That's horrible in Israel. In Gaza, we have last evening we had 8525 deaths and it's same 70% of innocent women and children. And I think that's what we need to look," he said adding that the numbers received from the Hamas government in Gaza were credible.
The Health organization's spokesperson said he could not verify that Hamas had its headquarters under the Shifa Hospital in Gaza, A claim Israel has made and for which it said it had provided proof to governments and international intelligence agencies.
"but what we can verify that 10s of thousands of people are seeking shelter in schools and in hospitals to try to find a safe place where they can can can at least escape the the bombs and the ships that that what we can what we can what we can verify. And that's a horrible situation without any any supplies there. It's clear the abuse of any health facility for military purposes is or could constitute cause we're not," he said.
"The court could constitute A violation of international humanitarian law. That is correct. Any ambulance, any hospital that is a violation of international humanitarian law, but the shelling. And attacking of health facilities also is a violation of international humanitarian law," he said.