One World Health Organization (WHO) staff member remained in Israeli detention Tuesday after military forces fired upon, and then raided, the WHO residence in Deir Al Balah, as part of a new offensive into the central Gaza strip area, which until recently had remained a relative island of calm during the 21-month war. 

According to WHO reports, Israeli airstrikes on the residence on Monday initially caused a fire. Later, forces entered the premises, stripping and detaining male staff and sending women and children on foot to the Mawasi humanitarian area, in a Gaza coastal area, kilometers away. 

“The attacks happened by the Israeli military, who went to the premises later, and then put in danger the WHO staff and their families,” said WHO Spokesperson Tarik Jašarević at a UN press conference in Geneva Tuesday morning 

WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X,that soldiers forced women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al Mawasi “amid active conflict” while male staff and family members were “handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint.”

Two WHO staff and two family members were initially detained, with one staff still in detention. 

When access became possible, 32 WHO staff and family members were evacuated to a WHO office in another part of the Gaza enclave. 

“WHO demands the immediate release of the detained staff and protection of all its staff,” said Tedros.

.@WHO’s staff residence in Deir al Balah, #Gaza, was attacked three times today as well as its main warehouse.

Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi amid active conflict. Male staff and family members were… pic.twitter.com/PGjaYrhkfH

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) July 21, 2025

The same attack also damaged WHO’s main warehouse adjacent to the residence, according to another WHO report, posted on X,  which described it as “part of a pattern of systematic destruction of health facilities. It was later looted by desperate crowds.”

The statement added, “The geographical coordinates of all WHO premises, including offices, warehouses, and staff housing, are shared with the relevant parties. These facilities are the backbone of WHO’s operations in Gaza and must always be protected, regardless of evacuation or displacement orders. Any threat to these premises is a threat to the entire humanitarian health response in Gaza.”

Since 25 June, WHO had managed to bring in 24 trucks “carrying trauma supplies, medical items like syringes, bandages and surgical gowns, some essential medicine, assistive devices, antibiotics, diagnostic kits and others.” Jašarević said, adding: 

“But this is nearly not enough for the hospitals, and what hospitals really need is fuel, and fuel was not coming in. So what we we have supplies ready to move in, but we need that access. And, again, hospitals need fuel, patients and health workers need fuel as well.” 

Evacuation orders on Deir Al Balah pushes Gazans into shrinking space 

The new Israeli offensive, which began Sunday, was accompanied by a fresh evacuation order on six city blocks in central Deir Al Balah, a town with a population of about 75,000 people before the war began in October 2023.  The city had remained relatively calm throughout most of the conflict, with other humanitarian operations also clustered there along with WHO’s hub.  

“With 88% of Gaza now under evacuation orders or within Israeli-militarized zones, there is no safe place to go,” said WHO.

Meanwhile, there continue to be almost daily reports of further shooting deaths of Palestinians on their way to get food aid from the few distribution points that Israel has allowed to continue operating, mostly under the auspices of the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).  

More than 1000 Gazans have been killed seeking food aid in recent weeks said Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the United Nations Refugee Agency for Palestinians,  in an UNRWA statement, shared at the Geneva press briefing.

And “extreme hunger and starvation” continues to grip the enclave of 2 million people, said UNRWA’s Juliette Touma at the briefing, as a result of Israel’s decision to close off Gaza to most humanitarian aid deliveries, in March.   

“Israel is blocking 6,000 UNRWA trucks from entering Gaza while children die of hunger.” https://t.co/MenBTQpChX

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) July 20, 2025

“The last update that we had issued in mid-May said, 57 children died of malnutrition only since the siege began,” she said. “But that’s likely an outdated figure that we need to update. For the past 48 to 72 hours, we’ve been receiving SOS messages from[UNRWA]  staff who are hungry themselves, who are exhausted themselves, who are supposed to be taking care of others and providing humanitarian assistance, except they are exhausted. “

“UNRWA continues to be on the ground in Gaza,” she said, noting that the sprawling organization operates tent cities, health clinics and some of the only remaining water and sanitation points in Gaza –  despite Israel’s closure on the agency’s Jerusalem operations. 

Twenty-seven nations denounce ‘inhumane killing of civilians’

Meanwhile on Monday, 27 nations, including the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland and Australia, issued a tough statement denouncing the repeated Israeli military killings around the food aid sites, and calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.   

The statement, which began saying, “the war in Gaza must end now” denounced what it described as “the inhumane killing of civilians” seeking food aid. 

“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.

“We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food. It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid,” the nations said.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy later told the House of Commons a “litany of horrors” was taking place in Gaza, including strikes that have killed “desperate, starving children”.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the joint statement saying that the claims were “disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas”.  A 15 July X post by the COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination group, also showed pictures of what it claimed were “thousands of pallets of humanitarian aid already inside Gaza, waiting to be picked up and distributed from the crossings by UN agencies and international organizations.”

It also denied claims that it had restricted the entry of baby formula into Gaza. Although UN aid groups have continued some food deliveries, particularly in northern Gaza, they have said that they won’t work with GHF, because it doesn’t adhere to humanitarian principles. 

There are reports that Israel and Hamas are close to an agreement on a six-week ceasefire, which would be accompanied by the exchange of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Both sides accuse the other of delaying a final agreement.

Israeli families of hostages, fearful their family members may also be held in areas the army is now entering, have lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the new offensive, accusing him of once more delaying  a ceasefire accord in order to keep together his fragile coalition with ultra-right parties that want to continue the war. 

Said Touma, UNRWA has over 6000 trucks poised in Jordan and Egypt ready to surge aid if an agreement is finally reached.

“We haven’t been allowed at UNRWA to bring in any humanitarian assistance for four and a half months now, she said. “Meanwhile, we have over 10,000 people who work for UNRWA who are on the ground will be ready to receive those supplies and distribute them just like we did together with other UN agencies and humanitarian organizations, during the [February] ceasefire.” 

Image Credits: UNRWA , UNRWA , @IhabHassane.