World Health Organization to remain in Gaza City, warns of health catastrophe
Al-Khamisa News Network - Gaza
The World Health Organization said it will remain in Gaza City despite calls by Israeli occupation authorities for residents to move to the southern part of the besieged enclave.
In a statement posted on its account on the social media platform X, the WHO said it and its partners are still in the heart of Gaza City, while expressing frustration at the evacuation orders issued by Israeli forces.
The WHO added that the so‑called “humanitarian zone” designated by Israel in southern Gaza lacks the scale and range of services needed to support those already there, let alone new arrivals.
According to the agency, nearly half of the hospitals still operating in the Gaza Strip are located in the city. It also warned that “the health system in the Strip cannot bear the loss of any of these remaining facilities.”
The WHO said, “Although the recent evacuation orders have not yet included hospitals, past experience shows how quickly they become non‑functional when fighting prevents patients from reaching them, stops ambulances from getting through, and disrupts resupply by WHO and partners.”
On Tuesday the Israeli army urged all Gaza residents to leave immediately for the south of the strip, warning it would launch a heavy assault on the city; the United Nations says “around one million people live in Gaza City and its environs.”
For days the Israeli army has carried out a gradual demolition campaign of high‑rise residential buildings in Gaza City, increasing the number of displaced families and driving them into severe displacement conditions. Observers warn the aim is to force Palestinians southward as part of a wider Israeli‑American plan to expel them from the Strip.
On Monday Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, vowed to strike more high‑rise residential buildings in Gaza City and “destroy the Strip and Hamas” unless hostages are released and weapons surrendered. On the same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted that his army had destroyed 50 residential buildings in Gaza City over two days, threatening to demolish more and press ahead with plans to displace people, saying: “This is just an introduction and a prelude to the main operation.”
With U.S. support, Israel has continued since October 7, 2023 to wage what the article describes as a genocidal war across the besieged Gaza Strip, leaving 64,605 dead and 163,319 wounded among Palestinians, most of them children and women, as well as hundreds of thousands of displaced people and a famine that has claimed the lives of 404 Palestinians, including 141 children.
