The World Health Organization expresses its concern about the fate of the director of Al-Shifa Hospital

Israel arrested the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Muhammad Abu Salamiya

She said Global Health Organization On Friday, she said she had no information about the fate of the director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza Muhammad Abu Salmiya Who was arrested by Israel this week, and called for his rights to be “fully respected.”

The organization stated in a statement that the director of the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip was arrested on November 22, along with five other health workers, while they were participating in a United Nations-led mission to evacuate patients.

The World Health Organization explained that three members of the medical staff of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and three members of the Ministry of Health were arrested.

Since then, “two of the six detained health workers have been released,” according to the organization, which added, “We have no information about the safety of the other four health workers, including the director of Al-Shifa Hospital.”

The World Health Organization called for “their legal and human rights to be fully respected while in detention.”

Israel says Al-Shifa Hospital is the main command center for Hamas operations in the Gaza Strip, something the Palestinian Islamic movement denies. Israeli forces searched the medical complex buildings for days.

Israel had pledged to eliminate the Hamas movement following the attack it launched on its territory on October 7, which according to it led to the killing of 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and the kidnapping of about 240 people who were transported to Gaza.

The Israeli retaliation led to the deaths of about 15,000 people in the Gaza Strip, including 6,150 children, according to the Hamas government.

On Thursday, the Israeli army announced the arrest of the director of Al-Shifa Hospital and the head of a department in the institution.

According to the World Health Organization’s statement, the organization has so far carried out three missions to recovery in one week, including an assessment mission on November 18, and a second mission conducted on the 19th of the same month allowed the evacuation of 31 infants.

The third mission, which was carried out on November 22, in cooperation with the Palestinian Red Crescent, enabled the evacuation of 151 people, including patients, their relatives, and health workers, according to World Health.

The evacuation process lasted 20 hours, “including six hours at a checkpoint where the Israeli army examined the team and patients. This came despite the initial agreement to examine the participants (in the evacuation) only at the starting point, at Al-Shifa Hospital,” according to the World Health Organization, which explained that the arrests took place at the checkpoint.