UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed deep concern over Sunday's strike by Israeli forces on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, incapacitating the hospital in Gaza City and dealing a severe blow to an already devastated healthcare system in the Strip.

In a statement issued late last night by his Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, Guterres stressed that under international humanitarian law, wounded and sick, medical personnel and medical facilities, including hospitals, must be respected and protected. Medical supplies are running low while mass casualties continue to fill hospitals.

The Secretary-General noted that nearly 70 percent of Gaza is now under Israeli-issued displacement orders or within a “no-go” zone, leaving Palestinians in Gaza with no safe place to go and little to survive on.

He voiced his strong concern as aid continues to be blocked, with Israel not having allowed any humanitarian aid or other essential supplies in for more than seven weeks. The humanitarian consequences are devastating, with food stocks running out, water production drastically dropping and shelter materials almost totally depleted.

The Secretary-General recalled that, under international humanitarian law, if the whole or part of the population of an occupied territory is inadequately supplied, the occupying Power shall agree to relief schemes on behalf of the said population and shall facilitate them by all the means at its disposal.

This is reflected in a number of Security Council resolutions, including resolutions 2730 (2024) and 2417 (2018), which strongly condemn the unlawful denial of humanitarian access and depriving civilians of objects indispensable to their survival.