WHO asks Israel to withdraw order to evacuate medical warehouses

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on Israel to withdraw an order to evacuate its medical warehouses in southern Gaza after a warning that ground operations would make it inaccessible.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a post on social media platform X, called on Israel to "take every possible measure to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and humanitarian facilities".

During a press conference in Cairo, Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, confirmed that intensifying military ground operations in southern Gaza, particularly in Khan Younis, were likely to cut thousands of people off from access to healthcare.

WHO officials said with many residents of Gaza unable to access clean water and sanitation they are concerned about a major disease outbreak.

Shannon Barkley of the WHO's team in occupied Palestinian territory told a media briefing that WHO personnel in Gaza were able "to complete a proportion of the evacuation of the warehouse to a new facility".

Since resuming ground operations in Gaza on December 1, after a seven-day truce, the Israeli military has extended operations to southern Gaza.

The death toll in Gaza has risen to 15,899, since the war broke out on October 7 after an attack launched by Hamas inside southern Israel killed 1,200 people.