WHO accuses Israel of strip-searching aid workers and striking staff homes
Three Israeli Defence Forces air strikes reportedly targeted the homes of WHO staff and their families on Monday, resulting in a fire and extensive damage.
In a statement posted on X, the WHO said: 'Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi amid active conflict.
'Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot, and screened at gunpoint. Two WHO staff and two family members were detained. Three were later released, while one staff member remains in detention.
'WHO demands continuous protection of its staff and the immediate release of the remaining detained staff member.'
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director General, said the strikes would further hinder attempts to support hospitals and doctors in the war-torn region at a time they are 'already critically short on medicines, fuel, and equipment'.
'As the lead agency for health, compromising WHO's operations is crippling the entire health response in Gaza,' Dr Tedros said.
WHO operations compromised following attacks on warehouse and facility sheltering staff and families in Gaza
WHO condemns in the strongest terms the attacks on a building housing WHO staff in Deir al Balah, in the middle area of Gaza, the mistreatment of those sheltering there,… pic.twitter.com/CWe68tNiX9
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) July 21, 2025
Israel launched an offensive into southern and eastern districts of Deir al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area the IDF suspects hostages may be held.
Tank shelling in the area struck houses and mosques, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding several others, local medics said.
Earlier in the day, the IDF had ordered Palestinians to evacuate Deir al-Balah – an area where many of the displaced had sought refuge as it is one of the few territories where Israel has not conducted major ground operations.
Dr Tedros said on X that a ceasefire in Gaza 'in not just necessary, it is overdue'.
'With the main warehouse non-functional and the majority of medical supplies in Gaza depleted, WHO is severely constrained in adequately supporting hospitals, emergency medical teams and health partners, already critically short on medicines, fuel, and equipment,' he said.
'WHO urgently calls on member states to help ensure a sustained and regular flow of medical supplies into Gaza.'
. @WHO 's staff residence in Deir al Balah, #Gaza, was attacked three times today as well as its main warehouse.
Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi amid active conflict. Male staff and family members were… pic.twitter.com/PGjaYrhkfH
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) July 21, 2025
Dr Tedros's renewed calls for a ceasefire come as the British government signed a joint statement with 28 international partners who have warned that the war must end as the suffering of civilians in Gaza had 'reached new depths'.
The statement, also signed by France, Canada and Australia, condemned the 'drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food'.
It criticised the Israeli government for its denial of 'essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population' and said it was 'horrifying' that more than 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.
On Sunday, a day before the statement was released, at least 85 Palestinians were killed seeking aid – the highest death toll in 21 months inflicted by the Israeli military.
The UN food agency, the World Food Programme, said the majority of those killed had gathered near the border fence with Israel in the hope of getting flour from a UN aid convoy when they were fired on by Israeli tanks.
Last week, The Telegraph spoke to Professor Nick Maynard, a top Oxford surgeon currently working in Gaza, who said that snipers were deliberately targeting 'certain body parts on different days, such as the head, legs or genitals' near US-Israeli run aid distribution points.
He added that he was seeing 'unprecedented levels' of severe malnutrition. 'The malnutrition I'm seeing here is indescribably bad. It's much, much worse now than a year ago.'
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private organisation backed by Israel and the United States, currently limits food distribution to four fixed sites in Gaza.
Israel and the US have been criticised over near-daily shootings near the distribution sites, which have killed 875 Palestinians seeking food since May, according to the UN human rights office.
In July, more than 170 NGOs called for the GHF food aid distribution scheme to be dismantled over concerns it is putting civilians at risk of death and injury.
Israel's foreign ministry said the statement signed by Britain and its international partners was 'disconnected from reality'.
'The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognise Hamas's role and responsibility for the situation,' the Israeli statement said.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called the statement 'disgusting' and said blaming Israel was 'irrational' because Hamas rejects every proposal to end the war.
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The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
At least 28 adults and 20 children starve to death in July as Gaza hunger crisis deepens
Five starving children at a Gaza City hospital were wasting away, and nothing the doctors tried was working. The basic treatments for malnourishment that could save them had run out under Israel's blockade. The alternatives were ineffective. One after another, the babies and toddlers died over four days. In greater numbers than ever, children hollowed up by hunger are overwhelming the Patient's Friends Hospital, the main emergency center for malnourished kids in northern Gaza. The deaths last weekend also marked a change: the first seen by the center in children who had no preexisting conditions. Symptoms were getting worse, with children too weak to cry or move, said Dr Rana Soboh, a nutritionist. In past months, most improved, despite supply shortages, but now patients stayed longer and didn't get better, she said. 'There are no words in the face of the disaster we are in. Kids are dying before the world,' said Soboh, who works with the US-based aid organisation Medglobal, which supports the hospital. 'There is no uglier and more horrible phase than this.' This month, the hunger that has been building among Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinians passed a tipping point into accelerating death, aid workers and health staff say. Not only children – usually the most vulnerable – are falling victim under Israel 's blockade since March, but also adults. In the past three weeks, at least 48 people died of causes related to malnutrition, including 28 adults and 20 children, the Gaza health ministry said on Thursday. That's up from 10 children who died in the five previous months of 2025, according to the ministry. The UN reports similar numbers. The WHO said Wednesday it had documented 21 children under five who died of causes related to malnutrition in 2025. The UN humanitarian office, OCHA, said at least 13 children's deaths were reported in July, with the number growing daily. 'Humans are well developed to live with caloric deficits, but only so far,' said Dr John Kahler, Medglobal's co-founder and a pediatrician who volunteered twice in Gaza during the war. 'It appears that we have crossed the line where a segment of the population has reached their limits. This is the beginning of a population death spiral.' The UN World Food Programme says nearly 100,000 women and children urgently need treatment for malnutrition. Medical workers say they have run out of many key treatments and medicines. Israel, which has let in only a trickle of supplies over the past two months, has blamed Hamas for disrupting food distribution. The UN counters that Israel, which has restricted aid since the war began, simply has to allow it to enter freely. Hundreds of malnourished kids brought daily The Patient's Friends Hospital overflows with parents bringing in scrawny children, 200 to 300 cases a day, according to Soboh. On Wednesday, staff laid toddlers on a desk to measure the circumference of their upper arms – the quickest way to determine malnutrition. In the summer heat, mothers huddled around specialists, asking for supplements. Babies with emaciated limbs screamed in agony. Others lay totally silent. The worst cases are kept for up to two weeks at the center's 10-bed ward, which has had up to 19 children at a time this month. It usually treats only children under five but began taking some as old as 11-12 because of worsening starvation among older children. Hunger gnaws at staff as well. Soboh said two nurses put themselves on IV drips to keep going. 'We are exhausted. We are dead in the shape of the living,' she said. The five children died in succession last Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Four of them, aged 4 months to 2 years, had suffered gastric arrest: their stomachs had shut down. The hospital no longer had the right nutrition supplies for them. The fifth, four-and-a-half-year-old Siwar – had alarmingly low potassium levels, a growing problem. She was so weak she could barely move her body. Medicine for potassium deficiency had largely run out across Gaza, Soboh said. The center had only a low-concentration potassium drip. The little girl didn't respond. After three days in the ICU, she died on Saturday. 'If we don't have potassium, we will see more deaths,' she said. A 2-year-old is wasting away In the Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza city, two-year-old Yazan Abu Ful's mother, Naima, pulled off his clothes to show his emaciated body. His vertebrae, ribs and shoulder-blades jutted out. His buttocks were shriveled. His face was expressionless. His father Mahmoud, who was also skinny, said they took him to the hospital several times. Doctors just said they should feed him. 'I tell the doctors, 'You see for yourself, there is no food,'' he said. Naima, who is pregnant, prepared a meal: two eggplants they bought for $9 cut up and boiled in water. They will stretch out the pot of eggplant-water – not even a real soup – to last them a few days. Several of Yazan's four older siblings also looked thin and drained. Holding him in his lap, Mahmoud Abu Ful lifted Yazan's limp arms. The boy lies on the floor most of the day, too weak to play with his brothers. 'If we leave him, he might just slip away from between our fingers, and we can't do anything.' Adults, too, are dying Starvation takes the vulnerable first, experts say: children and adults with health conditions. On Thursday, the bodies of an adult man and woman with signs of starvation were brought to Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, director Mohammed Abu Selmia said. One suffered from diabetes, the other from a heart condition, but they showed severe deficiencies of nutrients, gastric arrest and anemia from malnutrition. Many of the adults who have died had some preexisting condition, like diabetes or heart or kidney trouble, worsened by malnutrition, Abu Selmia said. 'These diseases don't kill if they have food and medicine,' he said. Deaths come after months of Israeli siege Israel cut off the entry of food, medicine, fuel and other supplies completely to Gaza for two and a half months starting in March, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages. During that time, food largely ran out for aid groups and in marketplaces and experts warned Gaza was headed for an outright famine. In late May, Israel slightly eased the blockade. Since then, it has allowed in around 4,500 trucks for the UN and other aid groups to distribute, including 2,500 tonnes of baby food and high-calorie special food for children, the Israeli foreign ministry claimed on Wednesday. That is an average of 69 trucks a day, far below the 500-600 trucks a day the UN says are needed. The UN has been unable to distribute much of the aid because hungry crowds and gangs take most of it from its trucks. Separately, Israel has also backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which opened four centers distributing boxes of food supplies. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to reach the sites. On Tuesday, David Mencer, spokesman for the Israeli prime minister's office, denied there was a 'famine created by Israel' in Gaza and blamed Hamas for creating 'man-made shortages' by looting aid trucks. The UN denies Hamas siphons off significant quantities of aid. Humanitarian workers say Israel just needs to allow aid to flow in freely, saying looting stops whenever aid enters in large quantities.
BBC News
15 hours ago
- BBC News
One in five children in Gaza is malnourished, UN aid agency says
One in five children in Gaza City is malnourished and cases are increasing every day, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) a statement issued on Thursday, Unrwa Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini cited a colleague telling him: "People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses."More than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups have also warned of mass starvation - pressing for governments to take which controls the entry of all supplies into Gaza, says there is no siege and blames Hamas for any cases of malnutrition. The UN, however, has warned that the level of aid getting into Gaza is "a trickle" and the hunger crisis in the territory "has never been so dire".In his statement on Thursday, Lazzarini said "more than 100 people, the vast majority of them children, have reportedly died of hunger"."Most children our teams are seeing are emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying if they don't get the treatment they urgently need," he added, pleading for Israel to "allow humanitarian partners to bring unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza".On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said a large proportion of the population of Gaza was "starving"."I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation - and it's man-made," the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said. In northern Gaza, Hanaa Almadhoun, 40, said local markets are often without food and other supplies. "If they do exist then they come at exorbitant prices that no ordinary person can afford," she told the BBC over WhatsApp. She said flour was expensive and difficult to secure, and that people have sold "gold and personal belongings" to afford it. The mother-of-three said "every new day brings a new challenge" as people search for "something edible". "With my own eyes, I've seen children rummaging through the garbage in search of food scraps," she added. During a visit to Israeli troops in Gaza on Wednesday, Israel's President Isaac Herzog insisted his country was providing humanitarian aid "according to international law".But Tahani Shehada, an aid worker in Gaza, said people "are just trying to survive hour-by-hour"."Even simple things like cooking [and] taking a shower have become luxuries," she said. "I have a baby. He's eight months old. He doesn't know what fresh fruit tastes like," she added. Israel stopped aid deliveries to Gaza in early March following a two-month ceasefire. The blockade was partially eased after nearly two months, but food, fuel and medicine shortages with the US, established a new aid system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). According to the UN human rights office, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to get food aid over the past two says at least 766 of them have been killed in the vicinity of one of the GHF's four distribution centres, which are operated by US private security contractors and are located inside Israeli military 288 people have been reported killed near UN and other aid has accused Hamas of instigating the chaos near the aid sites. It says its troops have only fired warning shots and that they do not intentionally shoot GHF says the UN is using "false" figures from Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. Najah, a 19-year-old widow sheltering in a hospital in Gaza, said she fears she would "get shot" if she travelled to aid distribution site."I hope they bring us something to eat and drink. We die of hunger with nothing to eat or drink. We live in tents. We are finished off," Najah told the BBC. A doctor working in Gaza with a UK medical charity, Dr Aseel, said Gaza was not close to famine, but already "living it". "My husband went once [to an aid distribution point] and twice and then got shot and that was it," she said. "If we are to die from hunger, let it be. The path to aid is the path to death."Abu Alaa, a market seller in Gaza, said he and his children "go to bed hungry every night". "We are not alive. We are dead. We are pleading with the whole world to intervene and save us," he added. Walaa Fathi, who is eight months pregnant with her third child, said Gazans are "experiencing a catastrophe and a famine that no one could have imagined". "I hope that my baby stays in my womb and I don't have to give birth in these difficult circumstances," she told the BBC from Deir al-Balah.
The Independent
16 hours ago
- The Independent
82 children starve to death in Gaza amid Israeli aid restrictions
A United Nations official has described starving Palestinians in Gaza as "walking corpses" due to a severe hunger crisis. At least 113 hunger-related deaths, including 82 children, have been reported in Gaza in recent days. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa, said that 6,000 loaded aid trucks are awaiting entry in Jordan and Egypt, while Israel maintains heavy restrictions on aid delivery. Palestinians are resorting to selling gold to afford basic necessities like flour, which has seen extreme price hikes, with many, including journalists, facing starvation. The deepening humanitarian crisis comes as Israel's delegation returns from Gaza ceasefire talks, with the Israeli government attributing food shortages to Hamas.
