Geneva, July 23 (RHC)-- The World Health Organization has accused Israeli forces of attacking its staff residence and main warehouse in the city of Deir al-Balah in Gaza. 

On Monday, Israeli forces entered the WHO premises and handcuffed, stripped and questioned male staffers and family members.  One WHO staff member remains in detention.  

The World Health Organization has released video showing attacks on its facilities in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.  A WHO spokesperson condemned the attack “in the strongest terms” and called for the immediate release of a staff member abducted by Israeli forces.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jašarević said: “Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint.  Two WHO staff and two family members were detained.”

This comes as the Health Ministry in Gaza says at least 15 more people, including four children, have died due to famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours.  Michael Fakhri, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, told Al Jazeera: “What we are seeing now in Gaza is the most horrific stage of Israel’s starvation campaign.” 

Moataz Harar, the head of the emergency department at Al-Shifa Hospital, said: “Most patients admitted to the hospital recently are not suffering from war injuries but from severe malnutrition.  Even some of our medical workers have fainted from lack of food.  The situation is grave, but it’s not new.  It’s just that the number of cases is rising rapidly lately.”

The union representing reporters at the French press agency AFP is warning the agency’s staff in Gaza are in danger of starving to death.  In an open letter, the union writes: “Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had wounded and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us can recall seeing a colleague die of hunger.  We refuse to see them die.”

[ SOURCE: DEMOCRACY NOW ]