By Muhammad Sabah and B'Tselem
The World Health Organization (WHO) has strongly condemned a series of attacks it says were carried out by Israeli forces on its facilities and staff in central Gaza, warning that its ability to operate in the territory is now severely compromised.
In a statement issued late Monday, the UN health agency accused the Israeli military of targeting a building sheltering WHO personnel and their families in Deir al-Balah. It also reported the destruction of its main warehouse in the city, vital for ongoing humanitarian operations.
The Israeli military has yet to respond to the allegations.
This marks the first major ground operation by Israel in Deir al-Balah since the war with Hamas began 21 months ago. The offensive has displaced tens of thousands of civilians, triggering alarm from humanitarian agencies about escalating hunger and deteriorating health conditions across the Gaza Strip. According to the UN, clinics and hospitals are reporting an influx of malnourished individuals in critically poor health, while the Hamas-run health ministry says at least 19 people have died from starvation-related causes since Saturday.
On Sunday, the Israeli military issued immediate evacuation orders for six city blocks in southern Deir al-Balah, warning it would launch operations “with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure.” Approximately 50,000 to 80,000 residents of the area were instructed to flee south to the coastal al-Mawasi zone.
Despite the evacuation order, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said UN staff would remain stationed in Deir al-Balah, operating from dozens of buildings whose coordinates had been shared with Israeli forces in advance. The UN stressed the importance of protecting its personnel under international humanitarian law.
The WHO detailed the sequence of events in its Monday night statement, stating that its staff residence was struck three times, igniting a fire and causing substantial damage. Staff and their families, including children, were reportedly put in “grave danger” and traumatized.
The organization said Israeli forces entered the facility, forcing women and children to flee on foot towards al-Mawasi during ongoing hostilities. Male staff and relatives were allegedly handcuffed, stripped, and interrogated at gunpoint. Four people—including two WHO staff members—were detained. Three were released, but one remains in Israeli custody.
The WHO is demanding the immediate release of the detained employee and guarantees for the safety of other staff, who have now been relocated with their families to the agency’s Deir al-Balah office.
The attack on WHO’s main warehouse, which caused explosions and a fire, has also had far-reaching consequences. The warehouse was subsequently looted by desperate civilians, further diminishing the agency’s operational capacity in Gaza. While the WHO did not directly assign blame for the incident, it cited it as part of a “systematic pattern of destruction of health facilities” across the enclave.
It warned that its ability to function in Gaza has been “crippled,” dealing a major blow to an already collapsing healthcare system and pushing survival out of reach for over two million Palestinians.
There has been no official statement from the Israeli military addressing either the WHO’s accusations or the ongoing military campaign in Deir al-Balah.
However, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday that Israeli forces are working to establish a corridor through Deir al-Balah that would cut the city off from al-Mawasi. The objective, according to the report, is to prevent the movement between refugee camps in central Gaza, where Israeli forces have not yet deployed ground troops.
The UN estimates that nearly 87.8% of Gaza is now either under Israeli evacuation orders or considered part of militarized zones, leaving 2.1 million residents confined to approximately 46 square kilometers of increasingly uninhabitable land. Essential services across these areas have all but collapsed.
Israeli sources have previously suggested that concerns about hostages being held in the region may have delayed an earlier ground assault on Deir al-Balah. Of the roughly 50 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, at least 20 are believed to be alive. Families of those hostages have raised concerns that any large-scale military operation in the area could jeopardize their safety.
The conflict in Gaza was sparked by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others abducted.
Since then, Gaza’s health ministry reports that at least 59,029 people have been killed in the territory.
