by the El Reportero wire services
The UN chief expressed his concern in a statement released by his spokesperson Sthéphane Dujarric while the Al-Shifa hospital is the focus of operations of the Israel Defense Forces.
Tel Aviv troops claim that Hamas established a command center beneath the health facility, an allegation denied by medical staff.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there were 135 attacks on health facilities in Gaza over the past month.
This is, according to WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris, the highest figure recorded in such a short time.
“I hope this is the worst we’ve ever seen,” she lamented.
Harris warned of a “growing trend” of attacks on healthcare, which is also seen in other ongoing conflicts in Sudan and Ukraine.
“It seems that somehow the idea that a hospital should be a safe haven, a place where people come for treatment when they need it, has been forgotten,” she told reporters.
The spokesperson considered the facility’s workers heroic, who maintain their efforts while the center has been operating without electricity since November 11 and there is not enough food or drinking water.
About 700 patients and more than 400 health personnel were still there, in addition to about three thousand displaced people who sought refuge there.
According to Harris, 20 patient deaths were recorded in the last 48 hours.
Press reports on Tuesday indicated that the Israeli army offered to provide incubators to Al-Shifa hospital, where 36 premature babies require constant care.
In the last three days, at least six premature babies died because their incubators could not function due to lack of electricity.
