‘Imperative’ to protect health workers in Gaza: WHO

Geneva: The protection of health workers and infrastructure is "imperative in all circumstances" the World Health Organisation chief said on Monday, condemning the escalating violence between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza.

In his first comments about the conflict that has killed more than 200 people in the past week, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that in addition to deep concerns over the security and humanitarian crisis, "the health situation is also highly concerning."

"In the recent escalation of conflict, dozens of incidents involving health workers and health facilities have occurred," he told reporters. "Furthermore, Covid-19 testing and vaccination has been severely impacted," he said, cautioning that "this creates health risks for the world as a whole." "Protection of health workers and health facilities is an imperative in all circumstances," he insisted.

"Health workers and infrastructure should always be protected and I call for leaders on all sides to ensure respect for these vital humanitarian laws."

Since May 10, some 200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including at least 59 children, and more than 1,300 wounded since Israel launched its air campaign against Hamas after the group fired rockets, according to the authorities there.

On Sunday alone, 42 Palestinians in Gaza -- including at least eight children and two doctors, according to the health ministry -- were killed in the worst daily death toll in the enclave since the bombardments began.

Israel says 10 people, including one child, have been killed and more than 309 wounded by rocket fire that has been the most intense to ever rain down on the Jewish state. "In the context of conflict, the health of civilians, their lives need to be protected. And the health care that is provided to them needs to be protected," WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan said.

"All attacks on health care need to cease immediately, and access for people to appropriate health services needs to be guaranteed," he said.Meanwhile, inside a Gaza hospital, Mohammed al-Hadidi cradled his baby boy Omar -- his only surviving child after Israeli air strikes killed his wife and four other sons in the night.

"I have no one left in the world but you," the 37-year-old father said. After the strikes, rescue workers pulled the five-month-old from the arms of his dead mother early Saturday, one of his tiny legs fractured in three places.

All his other children -- Suhayb, 13, Yahya, 11, Abderrahman, 8, and Osama, 6 -- perished in the bombing along with their mother Maha Abu Hattab, 36. "They’ve gone, we don’t want to stay around here for much longer," the bereaved father said, sobbing.

"We will meet them soon, you and I. Oh God, let it not be too long." Sitting on the edge of a hospital bed, Hadidi carefully kissed his child’s cheek. In his arms, Omar rested peacefully, his right leg poking out of his romper in a plaster cast. Under a crown of tiny brown curls, his eyelids were bruised dark and swollen, and his face covered in scratches.

Saturday’s strikes hit at the conclusion of Eid-ul-Fitr, usually a time of joy when Muslim families gather to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramazan. On Friday, Omar’s mother had taken him and his brothers to visit their cousins nearby in the Shati refugee camp outside Gaza City where they all lived.

"The kids put on their Eid clothes, took their toys and headed off to their uncle’s house to celebrate," Hadidi said. "They called in the evening to beg to stay the night and I said OK."

Hadidi then paused to gather himself as he recalled what would become a fateful night. I slept "at home alone... (and) woke up suddenly to the sound of bombing," he said. Soon a neighbour called to say an Israeli missile had hit his brother-in-law’s home.

"I hurried over as fast as I could, but when I got there the home was rubble, and rescue workers were pulling out bodies." His sister-in-law and four of her children were also among the dead.

A video widely shared on social media shows Hadidi clutching his son to his chest, overwhelmed that he had survived. Hadidi gently touched his son face. "All my other sons breastfed, except for Omar who refused from day one," he said wistfully.

"God was preparing us and we had no idea." Israeli air raids have killed 200 people including 59 children in the besieged coastal enclave since last Monday. Hadidi accused Israel of deliberately targeting children.

"What have they done to deserve being bombed without any warning to evacuate the home?" Human rights groups have repeatedly condemned strikes that have killed women and children in the overcrowded territory of some 2 million inhabitants.

The Gaza-based Mezan Centre for Human Rights says 341 residential units have been damaged in the aerial bombardment. Even with air strikes ongoing, Hadidi said he was waiting for his baby to be declared well enough for him to take him home. "I will care for him and bring him up on my own," he said.

In a related development, Kuwait summoned on Monday the ambassador of the Czech Republic in the Gulf country after a social media post in support of Israel stirred nationwide online criticism.

This comes as Israeli air strikes continued to hammer the Gaza Strip after a week of attacks that has killed more than 200 people, the large majority Palestinian. Martin Dvorak uploaded on his personal Instagram account an image of himself, with an Israeli flag, along with a statement that said: "I stand with Israel." On Monday, he deleted the post and issued a letter of apology that said he was "extremely remorseful".