The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for the protection of humanitarian and healthcare workers in Gaza after saying medical workers were detained and beaten at a checkpoint, and one was stripped, during a “high-risk” mission to a hospital in Gaza City on Saturday.
A WHO team in conjunction with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) carried out the mission to “deliver medical supplies, assess the situation in the hospital, and transfer critically-injured patients to a hospital in the south,” WHO said in a statement Tuesday.
As the convoy traveled north on Saturday, it underwent inspection at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, during which ambulance crew members were asked to leave their vehicles for identification, according to the statement.
WHO said two PRCS staff were detained for over an hour after exiting their vehicles. According to WHO staff, one of the PRCS staff was made to kneel at gunpoint before being taken out of sight “where he was reportedly harassed, beaten, stripped and searched,” according to the statement.
Checkpoints at Wadi Gaza are maintained by the Israel Defense Forces. The IDF acknowledged a CNN question about the incident but did not respond.
WHO said that after its convoy passed the checkpoint, it came under fire.
“As the mission entered Gaza City, the aid truck carrying the medical supplies and one of the ambulances were hit by bullets,” WHO said.
It did not say who fired at them.
After successfully carrying out its mission at the Al-Ahli Hospital, the convoy was stopped at the same Wadi Gaza checkpoint upon its return. One of the same two PRCS staff was taken in to be interrogated once again, according to WHO.
“The mission made numerous attempts to coordinate his release, but eventually—after more than two and a half hours—had to make the difficult decision to leave the highly dangerous area and proceed, for the safety and well-being of the patients and humanitarian workers,” the statement said.
WHO said its staff managed to meet with the PRCS worker on Sunday after he was released.
The man claimed that he was “harassed, beaten, threatened, stripped of his clothes and blindfolded” during the detention.
“His hands were tied behind his back and he was treated in a degrading and humiliating manner. Once released, he was left to walk towards the south with his hands still tied behind his back, and without clothes or shoes,” WHO alleged.
