Authorities in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, said Thursday that They ‘cease’ coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) after the director of Al-Shifa Hospital was arrested by the Israeli military during the evacuation of the medical center, the largest in the Palestinian enclave.

The representative of the Gaza Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Kidra, emphasized that the international organization “coordination” of the evacuation of people in the hospital, “subject to siege, attack and destruction by occupying forces who have deprived those present of food, water, medicine, electricity and security.”

At the same time, he emphasized that “a UN convoy represented by WHO set out yesterday to evacuate some of the patients and medical personnel subjected to the worst Nazi practices“. “We were surprised that the convoy was intercepted for about seven hours at the occupation checkpoint separating the north from the south of the Gaza Strip, where cases were recorded extreme violence against patients, their companions and medical staff“, he condemned.

“The case ended with the arrest of several of them (The medical staff), including the director of Al Shifa Hospital, Muhamad Abu Salmiya,” he said, before emphasizing the fact that the evacuation was carried out under the UN flag, “deceived the medical teams into believing that they were coordinating the evacuation of the wounded. and medical workers.”

Al-Kidra emphasized that “The UN bears full responsibility for this event. and we expect appropriate and urgent measures on your part to resolve the situation,” while criticizing that “WHO has not provided any report to the (Gaza health) ministries to clarify what happened, including the number and names of those detained.”

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“Due to the inability to contact Al Shifa Hospital, it is impossible to know who was detained before no WHO report”said Al-Kidra, noting that “this represents an opportunity to eliminate these groups, especially given the criminality of the enemy,” according to a statement published by the Gaza authorities’ press office through its Telegram account.

Finally he said that “All coordination with WHO to evacuate the remaining casualties and medical equipment is suspended until a report is sent explaining what happened. and that the detainees be released,” while the international organization has not yet commented on the incident.

Israeli military sources, cited by the Israeli public broadcaster Kan, confirmed the arrest of the hospital director and stressed that it would interrogated in this area and later transferred to the Shin Bet, the General Security Service., which acts as a domestic intelligence service. They have not yet reported any other arrests following the interception of the aforementioned convoy.

He On November 15, the Israeli army stormed Al-Shifa Hospital. after several days of encircling the sites, after which he said he had found evidence of tunnels and facilities used by Hamas in the center, amid international complaints about these actions by the Israeli military.

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Besides, Daniel Hagaryone of the representatives of the Israeli army, accused the Palestinian armed group of “hiding and killing” inside the sites several people kidnapped during the October 7 attacks, which killed about 1,200 people and abducted about 240 others.

Gaza authorities have so far reported more than 14,500 deadincluding more six thousand childrenfor the Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave, while more 200 Palestinians killed in West Bank and East Jerusalem at the hands of Israeli forces or as a result of attacks carried out by settlers since October 7, according to the Palestinian Authority.

(Europe Press)