At least 13 hospitals and health facilities hit during attacks on Iran, WHO says | Global development
At least 13 hospitals and other healthcare facilities have been hit during US-Israeli attacks on Iran, global health chiefs said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was checking reports that four medics had died and 25 people were injured.
According to official statements, at least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran, more than 100 in Lebanon and 13 in Israel since the start of the war. Thousands more people were injured across the region. Six US soldiers were also killed.
The dead include dozens of students killed in an attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, southern Iran, on Saturday.
WHO warned that the conflict was endangering international humanitarian supply chains and operations at its global emergency logistics center in Dubai were suspended.
On: briefing on thursdayWHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “13 attacks on healthcare services in Iran and one in Lebanon have been confirmed.”
Ghebreyesus did not provide further details or make accusations, but said: “According to international humanitarian law, health services must be protected and must not be attacked.”
WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Director, Dr. Citing Iranian officials, Hanan Balkhy said in the same briefing that four ambulances in Iran were affected, while hospitals and other healthcare facilities were slightly damaged by nearby attacks.
He said hospitals and clinics in Lebanon had to close due to evacuation orders.
who was there it has been said before A hospital in Tehran, the capital of Iran, was evacuated after explosions occurred nearby.
Iran’s UN ambassador in Geneva claimed in a letter to Ghebreyesus earlier this week that 10 facilities were hit in military strikes.
“The impact goes beyond the countries immediately affected,” Ghebreyesus said. “Operations at WHO’s logistics center for global health emergencies in Dubai are currently on hold due to insecurity.”
The center processed more than 500 emergency orders for 75 countries last year but was unable to operate “due to insecurity, airspace closures and restrictions affecting access to the Strait of Hormuz,” Balkhy told reporters.
He warned: “Human health supply chains are now being compromised.”
The official said the outage prevented access to $18 million (£13.5 million) of humanitarian health supplies, while another $8 million shipment failed to reach the centre.
He said polio laboratory supplies worth $1.6 million had been suspended, which could have serious impacts on Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the disease is endemic.
This was also affecting more than 50 urgent supply requests from 25 countries, as well as $6 million worth of medicines sent to the Gaza Strip.
Humanitarian groups had already expressed concern about the effects of the war after Israel closed all crossings into Gaza when it attacked Iran.
Ghebreyesus added that even before evacuation orders were issued for Beirut’s southern suburbs, the conflict had led to significant displacement, with an estimated 100,000 people having left Iran so far and another 60,000 displaced in Lebanon.
The threat of impacting nuclear facilities is also related to the potential for serious public health consequences, he said.
Additional reporting by Reuters and AFP
