GENEVA:
The head of the World Health Organization called for a ceasefire and a “real solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an emotional appeal to the world health body’s governing body on Thursday, where he described conditions in Gaza as “hell”.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who lived through the war as a child and had his own children hide in a shelter during bombings in Ethiopia’s 1998-2000 border war with Eritrea, described emotional conditions in the bombed-out enclave Gaza where more than 25,000 people have been killed.
“I am a true believer because of my own experience that war brings no solution, except more war, more hatred, more anguish, more destruction. So let’s choose peace and solve this issue politically,” Tedros told the Executive Council of WHO in Geneva during a discussion on the Gaza health emergency.
“I think you all said the two-state solution and so on, and I hope that this war will end and move to a real solution,” he said, before breaking down, describing the current situation as “beyond words.”
Reading Israel prepares for World Court ruling, focuses attack on southern Gaza
Israel launched its campaign to eliminate Hamas after the Palestinian resistance group invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 200 hostages back in Gaza.
In more than three months of war, Israel’s campaign has leveled much of the enclave, displaced some 1.9 million Palestinians and killed at least 25,900 people, according to Gaza officials. Israel launched a brutal bombardment and ground invasion in October after Hamas resistance fighters invaded southern Israel after seven decades of Israeli atrocities and oppression.
Israel’s ambassador said Tedros’ comments represented a “complete failure of leadership.”
“The director-general’s statement was the embodiment of everything that has been wrong with the WHO since October 7. No mention of the hostages, rapes, murders of Israelis, nor the militarization of hospitals and the despicable use of human shields by Hamas. Meirav Eilon Shahar said in comments sent to Reuters.
He also accused the World Health Organization of “collaborating” with Hamas, saying the WHO turned a blind eye to Hamas activities in Gaza hospitals.
In the same speech, Tedros warned that more people in Gaza would die of starvation and disease.
“If you add all that up, I think it’s not easy to understand how hellish the situation is,” he said.
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