(Changes headline, paragraphs one and three to show that the WHO is referring to reports from Iranian authorities)
GENEVA, March 5 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization chief said on Thursday that it has verified 13 attacks on health infrastructure in Iran amid a U.S.-Israeli campaign and it was checking reports that four medics were killed and 25 others injured.
“WHO has verified 13 attacks on health care in Iran and one in Lebanon,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference, without attributing blame or giving details.
Dr. Hanan Balkhy added at the same briefing that four ambulances in Iran were also affected and that hospitals and other health sites suffered minor damage due to strikes nearby, citing Iranian authorities. One of these hospitals in the capital Tehran was evacuated as a result, the U.N. health agency previously said.
Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva has alleged that 10 facilities have been hit by military strikes in a letter to Tedros earlier this week.
Balkhy says that the WHO logistics hub in Dubai which provides health supplies to dozens of countries is temporarily out of service because of transport restrictions in the region.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Emma Farge)
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