685 medical workers killed in Gaza by Israel: WHO

WHO said it has documented 410 Israeli attacks on Gaza’s healthcare sector since the regime’s genocidal war started on October 7.

According to the world body’s latest figures, the regime’s attacks have left 685 people dead and 902 others injured.

Israel’s strikes have also damaged 99 healthcare facilities and 104 ambulances across Gaza.

It added that two-fifths of Israeli attacks took place in Gaza City, a quarter of them in north Gaza, and another quarter in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

Attacks have resulted in 685 fatalities, 902 injuries, damage to 99 facilities and affected 104 ambulances,” the UN agency said on X on Wednesday.

“Two-fifths (38%) of attacks were in Gaza City, a quarter (23%) in North Gaza, and over a quarter (28%) in Khan Younis,” it added.

Emphasizing that the healthcare sector should not be a target in armed conflicts, the World Health Organization urged the Israeli regime to respect international law, which calls for active protection of civilians and healthcare facilities.

Earlier, the WHO has also issued a dire warning, saying that a growing number of children in Gaza are teetering on the edge of death due to severe hunger.

Margaret Harris, a representative from the WHO, shared distressing observations from the ground, saying that, ““What doctors and medical staff are telling us is more and more they are seeing the effects of starvation; they’re seeing newborn babies simply dying because they [are] too low birth weight.”

Speaking to journalists in Geneva, Harris emphasized the urgent need for nutritional intervention to save these young lives.

The United Nations has warned that Israel could be using starvation as a weapon in its genocidal war against Gaza by blocking the desperately needed aid into the war-battered strip.

The UN said Tuesday that Israel’s severe restrictions on aid into war-ravaged Gaza coupled with its military offensive could amount to using starvation as a “weapon of war,” which would be a “war crime.”

Israel launched the war against Gaza on October 7. Since the beginning of the war, the regime has killed more than 31,900 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents.

In response, resistance movements from Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen have been carrying out military operations against the Tel Aviv regime and its interests in the region.