Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director Common, delivers his speech after inaugurating the WHO Academy campus which promotes lifelong studying throughout the well being sector, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in Lyon, central France.
Laurent Cipriani/AP
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Laurent Cipriani/AP
After barely escaping an Israeli airstrike, the top of the World Well being Group is urging Israel to cease attacking well being care amenities in Gaza.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and a United Nation delegation have been ready to board a aircraft final week on the worldwide airport in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, when Israel attacked the ability.
Israel’s army mentioned it struck the worldwide airport as a result of it was allegedly being utilized by Yemen’s Houthi rebels to smuggle Iranian weapons and permit entry for senior Iranian officers. Three individuals have been killed and dozens injured.
Every week later, Ghebreyesus informed Morning Version that he has tinnitus attributable to the explosion, which he hopes is momentary.
“The latest expertise in Yemen, the identical sound? It simply involves my thoughts from time to time, even from childhood,” mentioned Ghebreyesu. “I do know that sound. I do know the picture. I do know the scent. I do know it.”
He grew up within the civil war-affected Tigray area of Ethiopia, and he’s aware of the irreversible and traumatic penalties of battle.
Days after the airport assault, Israeli forces raided one of many final working hospitals in northern Gaza and forcibly eliminated sufferers and employees from the ability, the Related Press studies. The Israeli army mentioned the hospital was being utilized by Hamas and that a number of individuals it detained participated within the Oct. 7 assault.
The World Well being Group describes the well being disaster in Gaza as depleted and severely under-resourced. Ghebreyesus says the state of Gaza is indescribable, and that hospital performance is dropping as the necessity for medical help continues to rise. Out of the 36 hospitals Gaza had, solely 16 stay partially purposeful.
“Once we name for a ceasefire, we’re saying, ‘please search for the choice … peace,'” he mentioned. “It is in the perfect curiosity of Israel as nicely.”
NPR’s Leila Fadel spoke to Ghebreyesus about escaping the airstrikes in Yemen, his name for Israel to cease attacking Gaza’s well being amenities and the state of the strip total.
The next excerpt has been calmly edited for readability and size.
Leila Fadel: The Israeli army mentioned it was not conscious you and the U.N. delegation have been on the airport. Do you imagine that?
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: I am unable to actually say something about that. However what I do know is we’ve finished the common notification, what they name UN time period deconfliction protocol and all people that ought to know was conscious.
Fadel: Together with the Israelis?
Ghebreyesus: That is what I’d count on.
Fadel: Since we’re speaking about Yemen, I’d like to get into the general public well being challenges. What did you be taught if you visited?
Ghebreyesus: A disaster in Yemen has been there for greater than ten years now. Out of the 78 million inhabitants, nearly near half wants humanitarian help. The cholera outbreak in Yemen is the biggest on earth. Not solely cholera, however measles and polio has returned to the nation. However my mission was not really for the humanitarian state of affairs. It was to barter with the Houthis, to launch our colleagues who’ve been in detention for a while.
Fadel: I need to flip to Gaza the place well being care staff proceed their work beneath nice threat. You latterly known as on Israel to cease attacking hospitals. What prompted that decision?
Ghebreyesus: The extent of destruction of well being amenities in Gaza is one thing that we’ve by no means seen earlier than. Out of 36 complete hospitals that Gaza has, 20 are out of perform already. The remaining 16 are partially purposeful. And when hospitals are destroyed like that, whereas the well being wants of the inhabitants is growing, due to trauma, accidents are on the rise, many individuals who may have been saved are dying due to lack of providers. That is why we’re asking Israel to guard well being amenities.
Fadel: How a lot of the alarm along with your assertion is concerning the latest raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza? Now, the Israeli army mentioned among the many 240 individuals it took, it included 15 individuals they are saying participated within the Oct. 7 assault. I imply, does the reason by the Israeli army that they are doing this to go after Hamas make it acceptable to go after hospitals?
Ghebreyesus: It does not make it acceptable as a result of well being amenities must be protected. And in the event you see not solely well being amenities, however the degree of destruction in Gaza is actually one thing that you just can’t even describe in phrases.
Greater than 45,000 individuals have been killed. Greater than 60% are ladies and kids. This alone is sufficient to cease the battle.
I do know battle. I do know battle as a baby. And that is why I hate battle. The one factor I do know associated to battle is demise. Destruction. After which, after all, those that survive. Displacement. Deprivation. Starvation. That is what I do know. Grief. Moms crying. So, after we name for a ceasefire, we’re saying, please search for the choice, peace. It is in the perfect curiosity of Israel as nicely.
I do not assume battle would be the resolution.
If we’ll have a win, it is discovering a political resolution that may transcend generations for generations to return. I can really feel it.