The World Health Organization (WHO) said a hospital in Iran's capital was evacuated after explosions nearby, and it is actively seeking to verify reports that three other medical centres in the country have been struck since the onset of a U.S.-Israeli air war against Iran on February 28.
According to a WHO spokesperson, patients were moved from Gandhi Hospital in Tehran after explosions in the vicinity caused collateral damage to the facility. Witnesses reported on March 1 that Gandhi Hospital had been hit by Israeli strikes.
Beyond Gandhi Hospital, the WHO said it was working to confirm reported damage to Motahari Hospital in Tehran, and to emergency medical centres in Sarab in northwestern Iran and in a western province of Hamadan. The agency emphasized that it is verifying these reports rather than making attributions of responsibility.
The WHO maintains a country office in Iran and has ongoing collaboration with the Iranian government on health emergencies and disease control. The organization stated that it seeks to verify attacks on health systems globally and that it does not attribute blame as part of that verification work.
In Geneva, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in that city, Ali Bahreini, addressed the Human Rights Council and said hospitals had been subjected to 'indiscriminate attacks', though he did not provide additional detail in that speech. The WHO's efforts to confirm reported damage to the named medical facilities remain ongoing.
Officials and observers face an immediate verification challenge: establishing the extent of physical damage to the facilities named and confirming the circumstances that led to patient evacuations. Those checks are a necessary part of the WHO's mandate to maintain accurate records of impacts on health infrastructure without assigning responsibility for the incidents.
This developing situation includes multiple elements the WHO is tracking: the evacuation of Gandhi Hospital after nearby explosions, witness reports of strikes on March 1, and outstanding verification questions regarding Motahari Hospital and emergency centres in Sarab and Hamadan. The WHO's country office in Iran and its collaboration with national authorities are central to those verification efforts.