European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) must be preserved and supported as a key provider of services to Palestinians.
He added on the “X” platform that he had held talks with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini and his team, discussing the “horrific” humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The agency said on Sunday that the number of its employees killed since the start of the war in Gaza had risen to 146. It added in a statement that only five UNRWA health centers out of 22 are still operating in the central and southern Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced on Sunday that the number of deaths from the ongoing Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7 has risen to 22,835, in addition to 58,416 wounded.
In the meantime, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday evening that the organization had received alarming reports of increasing hostilities and evacuation orders near Al-Aqsa Hospital in the center of the Gaza Strip.
Ghebreyesus added in a statement that more than 600 patients and most of the medical staff had been forced to leave the hospital, noting that their whereabouts are currently unknown.
The director-general explained that a team from the WHO and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs inspected the hospital and saw the transfer of large numbers of wounded to it for treatment, confirming that the hospital is suffering from a severe shortage of medical staff.
Ghebreyesus pointed out that reports indicate that there are only five doctors at the hospital, while the hospital administration said that the workers there do not have food.
The director of the organization said that Al-Aqsa Hospital is the most important in the center of Gaza, and that it must remain in service and be protected.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said earlier on Sunday that Israeli drones fired heavily at the departments and squares of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, adding in a statement that the wounded and patients fled the hospital under Israeli drone fire.
The ministry confirmed that Israel is seeking to put the hospital out of service, which represents “a death sentence” for thousands of patients in the central region of the sector.
The medical charity Doctors Without Borders announced on Saturday evening that it had evacuated its staff and families from the Al-Aqsa Hospital area. The organization said the evacuation came after days of artillery shelling on the center of the Strip and leaflets containing evacuation orders dropped by Israeli forces on the neighborhoods surrounding the hospital.
Regarding the northern Gaza Strip, the WHO director-general said that there are no hospitals operating at full capacity there after another WHO delegation’s visit was canceled today.
The organization explained that its staff have not been able to reach the northern Gaza Strip for 12 days, after the delegation’s visit was canceled for the fourth time since December 26, 2022, noting that the delegation was to transport urgent medical supplies to support the work of five hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, including Al-Awda Hospital.
The organization warned that the suffering in Gaza is worsening every hour due to the lack of adequate medical care.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced that the number of deaths from the Israeli attacks on the sector since October 7 has risen to 22,835, in addition to 58,416 wounded.
