WHO demands release of staff member detained by Israeli military in Gaza

The Manila Times

WHO demands release of staff member detained by Israeli military in Gaza  A spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO) called on Tuesday, July 22, for one of the agency's staff members detained by the Israeli military in Gaza to be released and for a ceasefire to allow it to bring medical aid into the territory.  The WHO said on Monday said the Israeli military attacked its staff residence and main warehouse in the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah, compromising its operations in Gaza.  WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said male residents had been interrogated, stripped and handcuffed and the warehouse had been looted after the attack.  REUTERS VIDEO  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe  Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital  Sign up to our newsletters: https://tmt.ph/newsletters   Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes #WorldNews #WHO #Gaza

Transcript

00:00So yesterday, their house where WHO staff is residing has been attacked. Israeli military

00:17moved into the premises. They ordered women and children to live on foot. Then they sort

00:26of interrogated, stripped, handcuffed male residents. And one of our staff is still detained.

00:36We don't know what other charges we demand his release. But again, this really is in the context

00:45of a horrific humanitarian situation in Gaza, where we are trying to support almost non-existent

00:54health system. The warehouse that was in the vicinity, and it was one of our main warehouses

01:00in Gaza, has also been damaged in attack. And then a desperate crowd came and looted it. So

01:07whatever we had there in terms of medical supplies is now gone, and we cannot channel it to existing

01:15health facilities. And we are unable to bring new supplies in. According to the Ministry of Health,

01:211,500 health workers have been killed during this war. More than 330 are still in detention.

01:29So that really deprives people of Gaza of receiving medical care. And then when we try to bring foreign

01:37medical teams, as we try to do to set up field hospitals, we have seen in recent months increase

01:45in denial of visas. So since March, 58 international health professionals, including surgeons and a

01:53specialist in certain areas, have been denied visa and have not been able to come and provide health

01:59services to people of Gaza. We will do whatever we can. And this was what we have been trying to do

02:05all these months. Every morning, our teams would send requests to move from our place to some hospital,

02:13some health center to provide support. Many of these requests for missions to hospitals have been denied.

02:20But what we can do is really be there and do whatever it is possible, whatever Israel allows us to do.

02:27But for that, we need humanitarian space that is not existent, and it's even more shrinking

02:33every day. We need ceasefire, and we need that access so we can support a really incredible work

02:41of health workers in Gaza who, despite being victims themselves of this war, are still trying to provide

02:49some sort of services to their community.

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