WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the comment in a Sunday post on X social media platform concerning an Israeli operation targeting the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the city of Beit Lahia.
Ghebreyesus said the Israeli military's attack on the facility had rendered it non-functional and resulted in the killing of at least eight patients and the detention of many health workers.
"We learned that many patients had to self-evacuate at great risk to their health and safety, with ambulances unable to reach the facility," he added.
The WHO's head noted, "Of the deceased patients, several died due to lack of adequate healthcare, including a nine-year-old child."
He also expressed "extreme concern" about the well-being of the internally-displaced people, who were sheltering in the hospital building at the time of the Israeli attack.
"Gaza’s health system was already on its knees, and the loss of another even minimally functioning hospital is a severe blow," Ghebreyesus warned, adding, “Attacks on hospitals, health personnel, and patients must end. Ceasefire NOW.”
The operation came amid the regime's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which started on October 7 following an operation by the territory's Resistance movements, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm.
Around 19,000 people, most of them women and children, have been killed in the Israeli strikes so far.
AMK/PressTV