On his first day in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump made a decisive move, announcing the United States\u2019 intent to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO). His executive order pointed to the agency\u2019s botched response to the COVID-19 pandemic, its troubling susceptibility to Chinese political pressure, and the outsized financial burden it places on American taxpayers. But beyond these high-profile failures lies a quieter, more insidious scandal: the WHO\u2019s systematic effort to obscure Hamas\u2019 exploitation of hospitals in the Gaza Strip. This travesty demands far louder condemnation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The evidence of Hamas\u2019 commandeering of Gaza\u2019s medical infrastructure is overwhelming and beyond dispute. The terrorist organization has transformed hospitals into command centers, weapons stockpiles, and active combat zones\u2014an abuse so blatant it defies denial. Yet, the WHO and its Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, have churned out hundreds of public statements and social media posts decrying Israel\u2019s supposed \u201cassault\u201d on Gaza\u2019s healthcare system. Ghebreyesus has taken his advocacy to the loftiest stages\u2014the UN Security Council<\/a>, Lebanon<\/a>, and Qatar<\/a>\u2014without ever acknowledging the well-documented allegations of Hamas\u2019 infiltration. The WHO clings to a narrative that casts Gaza\u2019s hospitals as innocent civilian sanctuaries unjustly targeted by Israeli forces. The WHO went even further and delivered supplies<\/a> to terrorist headquarters. This isn\u2019t mere oversight or diplomatic tiptoeing; it\u2019s active complicity in a deadly charade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hamas\u2019 exploitation of hospitals isn\u2019t new\u2014it\u2019s a long-standing, grim reality. During the 2009 Israel-Hamas war<\/a>, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) discovered that Hamas had shuttered entire sections of al-Shifa hospital, repurposing them as its operational headquarters. Dave Harden, who served as USAID mission director in the Palestinian territories, posted<\/a> in November 2023 that during his tenure in 2014, it was \u201cbroadly suspected\/understood\u201d that al-Shifa functioned as Hamas\u2019 base of operations. A Dutch journalist went further, claiming<\/a> to have personally observed Hamas fighters inside the hospital, adding that \u201ceveryone in Gaza, including UN staff,\u201d was fully aware of its dual purpose. The accounts of released Israeli hostages paint an even bleaker picture. Maya Regev<\/a> described how Hamas terrorists dragged her to a Gaza hospital, where they tortured her and performed surgery on her leg without anesthetics. Yarden Roman-Gat<\/a> and Mia Shem<\/a> both recounted being hidden in and beneath medical facilities during their captivity. British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari<\/a> reported that her surgeon at al-Shifa\u2014who introduced himself as \u201cDr. Hamas\u201d\u2014operated on her without pain relief, a chilling testament to the hospital\u2019s true masters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The corroboration keeps piling up. In November 2023, White House spokesman John Kirby publicly confirmed<\/a> Hamas\u2019 use of al-Shifa as a command hub. Between March and April 2024, the IDF executed a meticulously targeted operation<\/a> at the hospital, apprehending approximately 500 terrorists and 400 suspects while eliminating 200 others. Among the dead was Faiq al-Mabhouh<\/a>, a senior figure in Hamas\u2019 internal security apparatus. Yet, as Israeli forces dismantled this terror stronghold, Ghebreyesus took to X with a sanctimonious rebuke<\/a>: \u201cHospitals should never be battlegrounds. We are terribly worried about the situation at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, which is endangering health workers, patients and civilians.\u201d On April 6, 2024, the WHO spearheaded a multi-agency UN mission to survey al-Shifa\u2019s devastation, producing a report<\/a> that described it as \u201can empty shell.\u201d Strikingly, the word \u201cHamas\u201d is absent from the document. Readers are left with no clue as to who Israel was fighting or why the hospital had been besieged in the first place. This isn\u2019t sloppy reporting\u2014it\u2019s a deliberate erasure of the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The WHO\u2019s pattern of obfuscation repeats with Kamal Adwan hospital. Between October 2024 and January 2025, Ghebreyesus and his agency posted at least sixteen times on X, condemning Israeli military actions there with escalating outrage. On November 25, 2024, he called the continued attacks \u201cdeplorable<\/a>\u201d; on December 9, he declared them \u201cunacceptable<\/a>.\u201d Meanwhile, the IDF\u2019s operations at Kamal Adwan yielded over 240 captured Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists<\/a>\u2014some of whom participated in the October 7 massacre. In released interrogation footage<\/a>, a member of Hamas\u2019 elite Nukhba forces detailed how Palestinian terrorist factions exploited the hospital as a \u201csafe zone,\u201d banking on its presumed immunity from Israeli strikes. Fox News reported in January 2025 that several detained terrorists confessed Israeli hostages<\/a> had been held at Kamal Adwan at various points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tthe WHO has relentlessly<\/a> demanded<\/a> the release of the hospital\u2019s director, Hussan Abu Safiya, without mentioning that he\u2019s a Hamas colonel<\/a> arrested on suspicion of terrorism. Far from a neutral civilian facility, Kamal Adwan was classified as a military hospital by Hamas\u2019 own Military Medical Services Directorate, with social media posts from its opening touting its readiness to serve \u201cmilitary personnel in the Ministry of Interior and National Security.\u201d A Kurdish doctor who volunteered there and the hospital\u2019s former director\u2014following his arrest and questioning by Israel\u2014have both confirmed Hamas\u2019 entrenched presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hamas\u2019 transformation of hospitals into terrorist bastions and dungeons for Israeli captives is a flagrant violation of international law. It lays bare the group\u2019s cynical cruelty, perverting institutions meant to preserve life into instruments of death and suffering. This tactic dovetails with its broader strategy of using Palestinian civilians as human shields, fully aware that the international community has little stomach for Palestinian casualties and will reflexively blame Israel for every loss. When Hamas launched its genocidal October 7 attack on Israeli towns and villages, it counted on<\/a> the ensuing destruction in Gaza to trigger global condemnation of Israel. To that end, Hamas routinely manipulates casualty figures<\/a>\u2014underreporting the deaths of its fighters while amplifying the toll on women and children\u2014to bolster its propaganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the immediate aftermath of that barbaric assault, Hamas\u2019 allies<\/a> concocted the libel that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Central to their cases at the International Court of Justice<\/a> and the International Criminal Court<\/a> is the accusation that Israel is waging a campaign against Gaza\u2019s hospitals. The WHO has proven a willing partner in this deception, consistently concealing Hamas\u2019 abuses and misrepresenting Israel\u2019s counter-terrorism efforts. Through hundreds of public statements and its provision of aid supplies, it has effectively aided the murder, abduction, and torture of Israeli citizens while denying Hamas\u2019 role\u2014a betrayal of professional and medical ethics on an unforgivable scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Trump has taken a principled stand by charting America\u2019s exit from the WHO, a body that has lost its moral compass. Israel and the United States\u2019 democratic allies must follow his example. Israel is seriously considering withdrawing, and the Knesset has recently held a hearing<\/a> on the subject. The WHO\u2019s collaboration with Hamas isn\u2019t just a failure of leadership\u2014it\u2019s a stain on the very ideals it claims to uphold. The time for accountability is now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n