GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that the destruction of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza amounted to “ripping the heart out” of the health system of the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

“Destroying Al Shifa means ripping the heart out of the health system,” said WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris.

“It was the place people go to for the kind of care that a really good health system provides, that we in all our societies expect to have should we be in need.”

Israeli troops leave Gaza’s Shifa Hospital a wreck in sea of rubble

Israeli forces left Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Monday after a two-week operation by special forces, who detained hundreds of suspected Palestinian and left a wasteland of destroyed buildings.