As Israel Arrests Gaza Hospital Chief Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the WHO expresses concern
The director of the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City was held by Israeli troops on Friday, and the World Health Organization expressed worry about his fate. The detention stemmed from allegations that Hamas was using the institution.
The WHO stated in a statement that five additional medical professionals and the director of the largest hospital in the besieged Palestinian territories had been detained on Wednesday while participating in a UN patient evacuation operation.
The WHO said that “three medical personnel from the Ministry of Health and three from the Palestine Red Crescent Society were detained.”
Two of the six are said to have been freed since then, but the statement also said that “we do not have information about the well-being of the four remaining health staff, including the director of Al-Shifa hospital.”
“Their legal and human rights to be fully observed during their detention,” said the UN agency.
International media outlets have often cited hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya about the state of affairs inside Al-Shifa, which is a primary target of the Israeli ground assault in the wake of strikes on October 7 by Hamas militants.
The hospital in Gaza City was attacked by the Israeli army last week, and they said that Hamas terrorists staged assaults using a labyrinth of tunnels underneath the building.
Both hospital administrators and Hamas have flatly refuted the allegations.
The Israeli army said on Thursday that it had taken the hospital’s chief and a department head into custody.
In the course of a week, the organization has conducted three trips to al-Shifa, and on one of those operations, it was able to rescue thirty-one newborns from the hospital, according to the WHO statement.
The World Health Organization reports that 151 individuals, including patients, their families, and medical staff, were evacuated on Wednesday as part of the third mission, which was conducted in collaboration with the Palestinian Red Crescent.
