WHO suspends delivery of medical aid to northern Gaza due to lack of security

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was forced to cancel a mission to bring medical supplies to northern Gaza on Sunday (7) after failing to receive safety guarantees.

It was the fourth time the WHO had to cancel a planned mission to bring urgently needed medical supplies to Al-Awda Hospital and the central pharmacy in northern Gaza since December 26, according to the agency.

“It has been 12 days since we were last able to reach northern Gaza,” the WHO office in the occupied Palestinian territories wrote on social media platform X.

“Heavy shelling, restrictions on movement and disrupted communications are making it almost impossible to regularly and safely deliver medical supplies to Gaza, particularly in the north.”

The planned delivery on Sunday, according to the WHO, was aimed at sustaining the operations of five hospitals in the northern part of the enclave.

Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said he had no information about the WHO's claim, referring questions to the Israel Defense Forces.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “shocked by the scale of the health needs and devastation in northern Gaza”.

“Further delays will lead to more deaths and suffering for enormous numbers of people,” he wrote in X.

In separate comments, the aid group International Rescue Committee said its emergency medical team and the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians were forced to withdraw and cease operations at Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza due to Israel's growing military activity in the region.

The Israeli offensive launched following a deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7 has displaced most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents, left many homes and civilian infrastructure in ruins, and caused acute shortages of food, water and medicine. .