Tedros: Israeli army stormed WHO warehouses in Gaza Strip

The Israeli military has stormed warehouses and other facilities belonging the World Health Organization (WHO) during its advance in the Gaza Strip, Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.

Tedros said in a statement that a WHO's staff residence in Deir al-Balah, in the centre of the Gaza Strip, "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," the statement said.

"Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint. Two WHO staff and two family members were detained. Three were later released, while one staff remains in detention."

The organization is calling on the staffer's release.

Tedros said that the WHO's main warehouse for the Gaza Strip, which is located in Deir al-Balah, was also damaged on Sunday "when an attack caused explosions and a fire inside."

"With the main warehouse nonfunctional and the majority of medical supplies in Gaza depleted," he said.

"As the lead agency for health, compromising WHO's operations is crippling the entire health response in Gaza," Tedros said. "A ceasefire is not just necessary, it is overdue."

Israel's army did not initially comment on the incidents.

The military moved into the south-west of Deir al-Balah on Monday morning to fight Palestinian militant organization Hamas there. It had previously called on thousands of Palestinians to leave the affected neighbourhoods in the direction of Al-Mawasi.

Israel had previously refrained from military action in Deir al-Balah because hostages abducted by Hamas were suspected to be there.

Al-Mawasi in the south-west of the embattled area was designated by Israel as a "humanitarian zone" earlier in the war. However, the Israeli military has since also attacked there multiple times.