WHO claims patient died during lengthy IDF checks on north Gaza convoy

The World Health Organization claims that a patient died in an emergency convoy en route from a Gaza City hospital, during repeated and lengthy Israeli checks.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said over the weekend that the UN health agency and its partners had managed to deliver essential trauma and surgical supplies to the Al-Ahli hospital and to transfer 19 critical patients.

Providing more details about the mission, he writes on X, formerly Twitter, that the WHO was “deeply concerned about prolonged checks and detention of health workers that put lives of already fragile patients at risk.”

“Due to the hold-up, one patient died en route, given the grave nature of their wounds and the delay in accessing treatment,” he says.

Tedros did not say in his message who carried out the checks, but a WHO spokesman tells AFP they took place at an Israeli army checkpoint.

There is no immediate IDF comment. Israel has repeatedly urged residents of northern Gaza to leave the area as it battles Hamas forces in the area.