A spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, Margaret Harris, said on Tuesday that a greater number of Gazans are at risk of dying from diseases than from bombing, if the health system in the Strip is not supported to return to normal quickly.

“Ultimately, we will see more people dying from disease than from bombing if we cannot rebuild this health system,” spokeswoman Margaret Harris said.

She described the collapse witnessed by Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza as a "tragedy" and expressed her concern about the detention of some of its medical staff by Israeli forces.

The spokeswoman said that the international organization is "very concerned" about the hospital employees detained in Gaza, and their neutrality as medical personnel must be respected.

On November 14, the Israeli army stormed Al-Shifa Hospital - the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip - after besieging it for several days and bombing its facilities, including electricity generators and operating rooms.

The occupation army then kidnapped the hospital director, Muhammad Abu Salamiya, and 5 medical personnel while transporting wounded people from the health facility. The World Health Organization was accused of involvement in their kidnapping, but it denied having any information about their fate.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza then announced the suspension of coordination with the World Health Organization in evacuating patients and medical personnel from hospitals in the Strip after the Israeli army detained its health employees, including the director of Al-Shifa Hospital.

The fate of Al-Shifa Hospital was similar to the fate of most hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, which were completely or partially out of service as a result of the Israeli siege and bombing on them.

Before entering into a temporary humanitarian truce last Friday, the Israeli army launched a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, leaving more than 15,000 martyrs, including more than 10,000 children and women, while about 7,000 people are still missing. The number of infected people exceeded 36 thousand.

Health organizations have warned of the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics in Gaza as a result of the decomposition of the bodies remaining under the rubble, as well as the complete cutting off of water to the Strip since the start of the Israeli aggression.