Israel on Tuesday sharply condemned international organizations for failing to act over the years as Hamas turned Gaza hospitals into terror bases.
“For too long international agencies and officials have been tacitly complicit with Hamas’s long-standing abuse of hospitals as human shields,” said Prime Minister’s Office Spokesman Eylon Levy at a press briefing.
“We are demanding full accountability from them. What did you know? Why did you not say anything? Why do you continue to do propaganda for Hamas instead of doing your jobs?” he asked.
The PMO spokesman singled out Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths for special censure.
The two criticized Israel Defense Forces operations near Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday, with Ghebreyesus tweeting that “the reports of military incursion into Al Shifa hospital are deeply concerning,” and Griffiths posting that he was “appalled by reports of military raids in Al Shifa hospital.”
Rebutted Levy, “No, what is disturbing is Hamas putting its headquarters in the basement and the fact that you are covering for it. … No, What is appalling is that Hamas hijacked protected institutions and UN agencies did nothing.”
“To the alphabet soup of international agencies complicit with Hamas war crimes we say: Your negligence has put lives at risk and has cost innocent lives. Now that we have caught you in the act, can you please find the strength to condemn Hamas? Forget us—you have failed the Palestinian people. You have failed the world. You have all failed at your jobs,” Levy said.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen expressed his displeasure with Ghebreyesus during a meeting with the WHO director in Geneva on Tuesday. He said Hamas’s use of hospitals was “a resounding failure” for WHO and other UN organizations.
“Under the noses of these organizations, the largest terrorist infrastructure in the world was established,” Cohen said. He demanded that WHO follow the European Union in acknowledging that Hamas uses hospitals and civilians as human shields.
Instead, Ghebreyesus posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday in which he condemned Israel’s military operation at the hospital. “Israel’s military incursion into Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city is totally unacceptable. Hospitals are not battlegrounds,” he said.
Said Levy at the briefing, “International law does not give blanket immunity to terrorists just because they are hiding in the midst of a hospital when hospitals are used as bases for military activity. They lose their protected status after warning has been given and has been ignored.”
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