Israel has sharply criticized what it refers to as the World Health Organization's "selective silence" after a missile attack by Iran hit a hospital in southern Israel. The attack on Thursday had reduced Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba to ashes.
Israeli UN Ambassador to Geneva, Daniel Meron, condemned the WHO in a video uploaded to X, shot outside the headquarters of the organization. Citing that Soroka is a civilian hospital, Meron urged the agency to condemn the attack publicly.
"I am here with a clear message to the WHO, to the director general of the WHO, Dr Tedros," Meron declared. "A few hours ago, a ballistic missile was fired from Iran directly at the central hospital in southern Israel, the Soroka Hospital. Dozens were injured and hundreds evacuated from this hospital.".
"It is not a military complex. It is a civilian hospital. the WHO's selective silence is deafening.
"They need to denounce the ballistic missile shooting and the Iranian targeting of civilian targets in Israel."
Iran, on its part, said the attack was aimed at a military and intelligence complex, not a civilian one. But the missile damaged extensively Soroka Hospital and hurt many civilians.
WHO Releases Statement After Criticism
Hours following Meron's public remark, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reacted on X, describing the attacks on the healthcare facilities during the increased tensions between Iran and Israel as "appalling." He mentioned both the Soroka Medical Centre in Israel and a hospital in Iran's Kermanshah province hit by a nearby explosion.
"The intensification of the conflict between Iran and Israel is compromising access to health care and the existence of health facilities. The accounts so far of the attacks on health are horrific," Tedros stated.
He also urged all parties concerned to take the safety of healthcare facilities and workers into consideration: "We call on all parties to protect health facilities, health personnel and patients at all times."
WHO's European Office Responds
Hans Kluge, WHO's regional director for Europe, also denounced the attack. Describing profound concern regarding the bombing of Soroka Hospital, which he had seen after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, Kluge said: "Hospitals and health workers must never be targets — under any circumstances."
Soroka Medical Centre in Beersheba is a large southern Israeli hospital and one not considered a military facility. The WHO has consistently reported on destruction to medical facilities in Gaza during the conflict, particularly since war broke out after Hamas attacked Israel in October.
Earlier this week, the WHO said that a mere 17 of Gaza's 36 hospitals were even partially or minimally functional, highlighting the wider humanitarian cost of the conflict on health systems in the region.
Israel is a member of the WHO European region.
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