WHO calls for urgent ceasefire after attack on Al-Awda Hospital in Gaza

Following the attack on Al-Awda Hospital in Gaza, where three doctors and a patient companion were killed, the World Health Organisation expressed solidarity with the health workers of the hospital, calling for an 'urgent ceasefire'.

The World Health Organization office in the occupied Palestinian territory took to social media 'X', and stressed the need for humanitarian access and the protection of health care.

They mourned the deaths of those three doctors and a patient companion who were reportedly killed in the attack on Wednesday. Reportedly, many were additionally injured in the attack.

Moreover, the hospital also sustained substantial damages, according to the post.

Meanwhile, since the beginning of the war, the WHO has documented 178 health attacks in the Gaza Strip that have resulted in 553 fatalities and 696 casualties, including 22 fatalities and 48 injuries to healthcare workers on duty.

"A ceasefire is urgently needed. Humanitarian access is urgently needed. Protection of health care is urgently needed. Action is urgently needed," the post added.

Earlier on Tuesday, the WHO also announced the death of one of their staff members in Gaza, namely, Dima Abdullatif Mohammed Alhaj, 29 years old, who had been with the WHO since December 2019.

"She worked as a patient administrator at the Limb Reconstruction Centre, a critical part of the WHO Trauma and Emergency Team," the WHO said in a statement.

"Dima died today (Tuesday) when her parents' house in southern Gaza--where she had evacuated from Gaza City--was bombed," the statement added.

She was tragically killed alongside her husband, their six-month-old baby boy, and her two brothers.

Reportedly, over 50 family and community members sheltering in the same house also died, according to the statement.

Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, said, "she was a wonderful person with a radiant smile, cheerful, positive, respectful. She was a true team player. Her work was crucial, and she had been requested to take on even more responsibilities to support the Gaza suboffice and team. This is such a painful loss for all of us. We share our deepest condolences with her mother and father (a long-serving medical specialist in Gaza), her family, and her many friends."

Moreover, the statement highlighted that the humanitarian community and the UN family have lost other members since October 7.

The Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) lost two doctors, adding, "UNRWA has lost 108 colleagues. These are not just numbers, but people who were working so that others could have a better life," the statement added.

Following the incident, the WHO pleaded with all those who hold power in their hands to end this conflict to do so.