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The World Health Organization said the Israeli military attacked its staff residence and main warehouse in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah on Monday, endangering humanitarian workers and compromising relief operations in the besieged Palestinian territory.
The UN agency said its staff accommodation was struck three times, causing a fire and significant damage.
"Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot towards Al-Mawasi amid active conflict. Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot, and screened at gunpoint,” WHO said.
Two agency personnel and two family members were detained during the raid. According to WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, three were later released while one staff member remained in Israeli custody.
“WHO demands the immediate release of the detained staff and protection of all its staff,” Dr Tedros said.
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A spokesperson for the agency later said the WHO does not know the reasons behind the detention of its staff by the Israeli authorities, and again urged for their release.
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The UN agency said its main warehouse in Deir al-Balah, located within an Israeli-declared evacuation zone, was damaged in a separate strike on Sunday, triggering explosions and a fire inside the facility.
The Israeli military was still to respond to these allegations by WHO.
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Men ride in a tricycle cart in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza while smoke billows from Israeli bombardment on 21 July 2025 ( AFP via Getty )
The UN agency vowed to continue and expand its operations in the area, a critical centre of humanitarian aid distribution during more than 21 months of war.
Deir al-Balah is densely packed with Palestinians displaced by Israeli bombardment and evacuation orders.
Israeli tanks entered the city’s southern and eastern neighbourhoods on Monday for the first time since the conflict began.
Tank shelling in the city hit homes and mosques, killing at least three people and injuring several more, according to medics. Gunfire was reportedly heard throughout the day and thousands of people fled on foot or using donkey carts, eyewitnesses said.
More than 25 countries, including the UK, France, Canada, Japan and Australia, issued a joint statement on Monday urging an immediate end to the war. The signatories criticised Israel’s restriction of aid, describing it as “dangerous” and a violation of international humanitarian law.
“The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable,” they said. “Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law.”
Israel's foreign ministry rejected the statement, saying it was "disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas”.
US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, also rejected the statement from many of Washington’s closest allies, denouncing it as "disgusting" in a post on X and saying they should instead pressure the "savages of Hamas”.
The broader Israeli assault across Gaza left at least 130 Palestinians dead and over 1,000 wounded over the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Monday.
The cumulative death toll from Israel’s war on the besieged territory exceeded 59,000, with widespread destruction of infrastructure and displacement of people.
Israel launched a ground and air assault on Gaza after nearly 1,200 civilians and soldiers were killed and 251 taken hostage during a Hamas attack on 7 October 2023.
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Smoke and flames rise from a residential building hit by an Israeli strike in Gaza on 21 July 2025 ( Reuters )
The UN’s top humanitarian officials have raised the alarm over a collapsing healthcare system and rising malnutrition in Gaza due to the Israeli war and siege, particularly among children.
WHO said Gaza’s health sector was “on its knees” amid critical shortages of fuel, medicines, and medical equipment.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric confirmed two UN guesthouses were also hit in the latest Israeli strikes, despite all parties being informed of their protected status.
“These locations – as with all civilian sites – must be protected, regardless of evacuation orders,” he said.
UN secretary general António Guterres expressed deep concern over what he called an accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions. “The last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing,” he said, according to the spokesman.
The head of the UN humanitarian office in Gaza, Jonathan Whittall, who Israel said would not have his visa renewed, described the situation as “conditions of death”, calling the suffering preventable and “intentional”.
“Israel has the obligation to allow and facilitate by all the means at its disposal the humanitarian relief provided by the United Nations and by other humanitarian organizations,” he said.