WHO vehemently rejects Israel's claim of 'collusion' with Hamas

The World Health Organization has denied Israel's claim that the WHO was in collusion with Hamas by ignoring Israeli evidence of the "military use" of hospitals in Gaza.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said on Friday that such accusations could endanger its staff on the ground.

Tedros was responding to claims made Thursday by Israeli ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar at a meeting of the UN health agency's board.

"WHO refutes Israel's accusation at the executive board meeting yesterday that WHO is in 'collusion' with Hamas and is 'turning a blind eye' to the suffering of hostages being held in Gaza," Tedros said on X.

"Such false claims are harmful and can endanger our staff who are risking their lives to serve the vulnerable.

"As a United Nations agency, WHO is impartial and is working for the health and well-being of all people."

Earlier this month he told a press conference that healthcare should always be protected. It "cannot be attacked and it cannot be militarised", he said.

Eilon Shahar had said Hamas was embedding itself in hospitals in Gaza and was using human shields in the Palestinian territory.

In "every single hospital that the IDF searched in Gaza, it found evidence of Hamas' military use," she said Thursday. "These are undeniable facts that WHO chooses to ignore time and time again. This is not incompetence; it is collusion."

Situation 'beyond words'

Israel's war on Gaza started after Hamas fighters launched unprecedented attacks on Israel which claimed about 1,140 lives.

Israel's brutal war on Gaza — now in its 112th day — has killed at least 26,083 Palestinians and wounded 64,487, authorities say, as Israel carries out new massacres in the besieged enclave.

On Thursday, Tedros was moved to tears as he addressed the executive board. The fact that 70 percent of the fatalities in Gaza have been women and children should be motive enough to bring about a "long overdue" ceasefire, he said.

"If we look for a solution it's always possible," he added, after pausing to compose himself. "It's only the will that's required."

Tedros occasionally becomes emotional when speaking about the impact of war on children, citing his own early years in Ethiopia.

"I am a true believer because of my own experience that war doesn't bring solutions except more war, more hatred, more agony, more destruction," he said Thursday.

"I'm struggling to speak because... the situation is beyond words," he said, wiping his eyes.