WHO protests after patient dies in rescue delay by Israeli troops

GENEVA:

The World Health Organization on Tuesday protested Israel’s detention of a medical rescue convoy in the Gaza Strip, saying a patient died during an evacuation held by soldiers who arrested and abused a Red Crescent staff member.

In a post on social media platform X, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a WHO-led mission to bring supplies and evacuate patients from the last partially functioning hospital in northern Gaza was stopped in both directions by Israelis .

One of the 19 critically injured patients the team was trying to save died en route due to the standoff. A Red Crescent staff member was separated from the convoy, stripped, beaten and harassed before being sent away a few hours later on foot, unclothed and shoeless, his hands still tied behind his back.

“We are deeply concerned about the prolonged checks and detention of health workers that put the lives of already vulnerable patients at risk,” Tedros said.

Saturday’s mission evacuated critical patients and delivered trauma and surgical supplies to meet the needs of 1,500 people at the battle-torn Al-Ahli Hospital, the last hospital still partially functioning in the northern half of the Gaza Strip.

On leaving the north, some patients and Red Crescent staff were instructed at an Israeli checkpoint to leave the ambulances. Critical patients were searched by armed Israeli soldiers.

“Some health workers were detained and interrogated for several hours,” Tedros said. “Due to the suspension, one patient died en route.”

Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, would not comment on the incident, saying she did not have enough information about it.

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Richard Pieperkorn, the WHO representative in Gaza, who was with the convoy, said the doctors had to leave behind a staff member from the Palestine Red Crescent.

“After two and a half hours, we had to make this incredibly difficult choice to leave this extremely dangerous area and move forward for the safety and well-being of patients,” Peeperkorn told reporters via video link.

The detained employee later reported that he was harassed, beaten, threatened, stripped of his clothes and blindfolded. After his release, he was allowed to walk towards southern Gaza with his hands still tied behind his back and without his clothes or shoes, the WHO said.

“His story is harrowing and the humiliation and inhumane treatment he was subjected to is rather shocking,” Peeperkorn said.

Health workers have been detained in previous missions to Gaza health facilities. On November 18, six people were arrested during a WHO-led mission to transport patients from Al-Shifa Hospital. Four of those people remain in custody, the WHO said.