UN condemns Israeli strike on Gaza hospital, calls out ‘shocking’ global inaction
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Geneva: A top United Nations official on Monday denounced the international community’s failure to act after an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza killed at least 20 people, including five journalists.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), described the attack as “silencing the last remaining voices reporting about children dying silently amid famine.” He added, “The world’s indifference and inaction is shocking.”
According to Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassa, the incident occurred when an Israeli explosive drone struck a building at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, followed by an air strike as wounded victims were being evacuated.
Global news agencies, including Reuters, the Associated Press, and Al Jazeera, confirmed that their contributors were among the journalists killed. The strike came just days after the UN formally declared a famine in Gaza.
The UN human rights office condemned the attack, stressing that “journalists are not a target. Hospitals are not a target.” Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said, “The killing of journalists in Gaza should shock the world — not into stunned silence but into action, demanding accountability and justice.”
She also noted that international reporters remain barred from entering Gaza, and that at least 247 Palestinian journalists have been killed there since October 7, 2023. “These journalists are the eyes and ears of the international community, and they must be protected,” she said. “Their killings, and those of countless other civilians, must be independently, promptly investigated, and justice must follow.”
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed that four health workers were also among the dead. “Fifty others were injured, among them critically ill patients who were already receiving care,” he said on X.
He warned that Gaza’s fragile healthcare system was collapsing under the strain of war and famine. “While people in Gaza are being starved, their already limited access to health care is being further crippled by repeated attacks,” he said, calling urgently for a halt to the violence: “We cannot say it loudly enough: STOP attacks on health care. Ceasefire now!”
