Israel Accuses WHO Of 'Collusion' With Hamas

Israel on Thursday accused the World Health Organization of collusion with Hamas by ignoring Israeli evidence of the "terrorist use" of hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar told the WHO's executive board that there could not be health care in the Palestinian territory when Hamas "embeds itself in hospitals and uses human shields".

In "every single hospital that the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) searched in Gaza, it found evidence of Hamas' military use," she said.

"These are undeniable facts that WHO chooses to ignore time and time again. This is not incompetence; it is collusion."

On X, formerly Twitter, the ambassador insisted there was evidence of Hamas's "terrorist use" of hospitals.

War erupted October 7 when Hamas and others from Gaza launched unprecedented attacks on Israel which claimed about 1,140 lives, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Hamas also seized 250 hostages, and Israel says around 132 remain in Gaza. That number includes at least 28 dead hostages, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel, in response, launched a relentless military offensive that the Palestinian territory's health ministry says has killed at least 25,700 people -- about 70 percent of them women and children._AFP