WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus denied accusations made by Israel against his organization of "colluding" with Hamas.

Ghebreyesus said via the X platform: These false allegations are harmful and put our staff at risk, who risk their lives to serve the vulnerable.

He also added, as a United Nations agency, the organization is neutral and works for everyone.

In her speech during the meeting of the WHO Executive Board on Thursday, the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Merav Eilon Shahar, accused Hamas of militarizing the civilian area in the Gaza Strip as part of a deliberate strategy. She added, these are undeniable facts, and the WHO has chosen to ignore them many times. This is collusion, not just incompetence.

Israel accuses Hamas of exploiting medical facilities that are protected under the laws of war and using them to carry out attacks and hide tunnels and weapons, which the movement denies.

The Israeli Ambassador confirmed that the WHO was aware of hostages being held in hospitals and terrorists operating within them.

She went on to say, even when we provided concrete evidence of what is happening underground and above ground, the organization chose to ignore the appeal, endangering the people it is supposed to protect.

For his part, Richard Peppercorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, said the organization "is unable to verify how every hospital is being used".