The United Nations said Monday it suspended its humanitarian operations in the stronghold of Yemen’s Houthi rebels after they detained eight more U.N. staffers, affecting the global response to one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

In a statement, the U.N. said the "extraordinary" decision to pause all operations and programs in northern Saada province was due to the lack of necessary security conditions and guarantees.

A spokesman for the Houthis didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

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The rebels in recent months have detained dozens of U.N. staffers, as well as people associated with aid groups, civil society and the once-open U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. None of the U.N. staffers has been released.

The U.N. statement said the pause in operations is meant to give the Houthis and the world body time to "arrange the release of arbitrarily detained U.N. personnel and ensure that the necessary conditions are in place to deliver critical humanitarian support" in rebel-held areas.

It said the latest detained U.N. staffers — taken late last month — included six working in Saada, on Yemen’s northern border with Saudi Arabia.

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Seven U.N. agencies operate in Saada, including the World Food Program, the World Health Organization and UNICEF, along with several international aid organizations, according to the U.N. humanitarian agency.

The U.N. late last month suspended all travel into Houthi-held areas.

The war in Yemen has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians. The Iranian-backed Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, since 2014, when they descended from their stronghold in Saada and took control of Sanaa and most of the north.

The U.N. had projected that over 19 million people across Yemen will need humanitarian assistance this year as many deal with climate shocks, malnutrition, cholera and the economic effects of war.

The rebels have imprisoned thousands of people during the war. In recent months, they also intensified their crackdown on dissent, including recently sentencing 44 people to death.

In January, the Houthis unilaterally freed 153 war detainees as one of several overtures to ease tensions after the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Such prisoner releases have been viewed as a means to jump-start talks over permanently ending Yemen’s war.

President Donald Trump said he was open to potentially rejoining the World Health Organization (WHO), just days after he signed a Day One executive order that withdrew the U.S. from the international group.

During a rally at Circa Resort & Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, the president told those in attendance that it was unfair a country like China, with a population much greater than the U.S., was only paying a fraction of what the U.S. was paying annually to the WHO.

"We paid $500 million a year and China paid $39 million a year despite a much larger population. Think of that. China's paying $39 million to have 1.4 billion people, we pay $500 million we have – no one knows what the hell we have, does anyone know? We have so many people pouring in we have no idea," Trump told rally goers on Saturday.

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"They offered me at $39 million, they said 'We'll let you back in for $39 million,' they're going to reduce it from [$500 million] to [$39 million], and I turned them down, because it became so popular I didn't know if it would be well received even at [$39 million], but maybe we would consider doing it again, I don’t know, they have to clean it up a bit."

An analysis of national contributions to the WHO from NPR found that the U.S. pays for roughly 10% of the WHO's budget, while China pays about 3%.

Trump withdrew the U.S. from the WHO in an executive order issued hours after he was sworn into office last week. The president cited reasons such as WHO's "mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic," the "failure to adopt urgently needed reforms," and "unfairly onerous payments" forced on the U.S. During Trump's first term, in July 2020, he took steps to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO but his successor, former President Joe Biden, eventually reinstated the nation's participation in the global health initiative.

The president's complaints about the U.S. paying too much to the WHO mirror his complaints about U.S. participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well. During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week, Trump said he was asking all NATO nations to contribute 5% of their gross domestic products to NATO defense spending.

NATO set a threshold of 2% that countries must pay in 2014, but, according to Trump, "most nations didn't pay" until he began pushing for other countries to contribute more. Still, according to NATO’s Secretary-General Mark Rutte, countries like Spain, Italy and Canada have yet to even meet that 2% contribution. 

Following Trump's demands that NATO members spend 5% of their gross domestic product, he questioned whether the U.S. should be spending anything on NATO at all, telling reporters from the Oval Office that the U.S. was protecting NATO members, but those same members are "not protecting us."

"I'm not sure we should be spending anything, but we should certainly be helping them," Trump said from the Oval Office. 

The White House declined to comment for purposes of this story. 

TEL AVIV, Israel - With the first three Israeli hostages freed in the cease-fire for hostages deal, Fox News Digital has exclusively learned that several terrorists captured by Israeli forces last month confessed that Israeli captives were held at different times at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) recently completed a major raid on the hospital, arresting some 240 terrorists. The director of the hospital, Hussam Abu Safiya, the Israelis claim, had gathered intelligence showing that he not only allowed Hamas to infiltrate the hospital, but actively collaborated with the terror group.

Another captured terrorist, Anas Muhammad Faiz al-Sharif, who worked at the hospital as a cleaning supervisor and joined the Nukhba forces of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades in 2021, told Israeli interrogators that the northern Gaza facility was viewed as "a safe haven for them because the [Israeli] military cannot directly target it."

He revealed that inside the hospital, terrorists distributed grenades and mortars, along with equipment for ambushing IDF troops and tanks.

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Fox News Digital asked a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman if, based on the IDF's new allegations about holding hostages at Adwan Hospital, they would condemn Hamas' use of hospitals for military use. 

In a statement, the spokesman said, "The International Humanitarian Law is very clear. Healthcare workers and healthcare facilities are off limits. They must not be attacked. They must not be used for military purposes. They must be protected at all times. The point is both to protect civilians, as well as to protect the health systems and infrastructure that communities depend on for life-giving care and continuity of services. 

"Failure to protect and respect healthcare devastates twice. First, in the initial harm, and then again for the months or years it takes to rebuild the health systems."

The statement concluded without condemning or singling out Hamas. "The protection of healthcare also includes the prohibition against combatants using health facilities for military purposes. IHL is also clear that even if healthcare facilities are being used for military purposes, there are stringent conditions which apply to taking action against them, including a duty to warn and to wait after warning and even then, disproportionate attacks are strictly prohibited."

Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former Trump National Security Council official, claimed, "Several international organizations operating in Gaza likely had direct knowledge of Hamas using hospitals as terror headquarters and only publicly protested Israel’s attempt to clear the terrorists. The Red Cross, UNRWA, World Health Organization - they were all collaborators."

Goldberg offered advice for President Trump's pick for U.N. ambassador, Elise Stefanik, who goes before the Senate on Tuesday. "Stefanik would be fully justified in launching investigations into each of those agencies - demanding documents and personnel interviews. And if they don’t comply, they can deal with the consequences."

One of Trump's first acts on Monday was to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO. 

During the monthslong IDF operation in northern Gaza, more than 700 terrorists were detained, including Hamas commanders, some of whom participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel. More than a dozen of those captured were involved in kidnapping or holding Israeli hostages in Gaza.

During the operation, the IDF located and destroyed thousands of weapons, including RPGs stashed within the hospital itself. The aim of the campaign was to completely defeat Hamas's Northern Brigade and remove the terror group's presence from within the civilian population. IDF troops conducted raids ranging from a few hours up to a full day. During the longer ones, they entered the hospital and searched for weapons and terrorists.

Former Shin Bet agent Gonen Ben Itzhak, who was the handler of former Hamas informant Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a Hamas founder, told Fox News Digital that, "Using visual intelligence, it’s easy to see when Hamas brings guns and ammunition into the hospital … and even with one human source, you can get intel on what is happening inside. From a signal point of view, the terrorists use phones and walkie-talkies, which can be intercepted."

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Almost no fighting took place inside the hospital, from which some 950 people were eventually evacuated, all before the IDF's final raid. Since then, the Israeli military has facilitated and secured the transfer of the hospital's operations to the nearby Indonesian Hospital, at the request of the Palestinians.

Even as the United Nations and the international community condemned Jerusalem for its anti-terrorism campaign at Kamal Adwan, a former Palestinian Authority official, told Fox News Digital that Hamas’ use of hospitals was "immoral" and known to endanger patients and health workers.

Adnan al-Damiri recently went viral on social media after the Israel-based Palestinian Media Watch organization flagged his Facebook post showing that Hamas had summoned a Gazan reporter for questioning to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Strip.

"I made this post to show Palestinians that Hamas is doing everything against the people of Gaza, including in hospitals. Hamas claims its struggle is against the [Israeli] occupation, but the fact is they use our people," al-Damiri said. He noted that the document posted to social media was sent to him by a friend of the Gazan who was summoned for interrogation.

"I know that it’s a real document. I am not afraid of Hamas," he added.

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In December 2023, Ahmed Kahlout, then-director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, told his Israeli interrogators that he and other staff were Hamas operatives. Kahlout described how Hamas used ambulances to hide operatives, transport terrorist squads and deliver a kidnapped IDF soldier.

Basem Naim, a member of Hamas' political bureau in Gaza, told Fox News Digital that his "resistance movement understands very well the importance of respecting international humanitarian law and its obligations, and understands very well the needs of our people for civil services and the importance of protecting them.

"I can confidently say that Hamas hasn't used any hospital as a military base or a shelter for fighters," he continued. "Regarding all the aggressions against hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Israel wasn’t able in any case to prove or to give serious or neutral evidence for its claims," he said. 

"We call for the immediate release of Dr. Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was kidnapped by Israeli forces, with dozens of other medics. Israel is fully responsible and accountable for their lives. Dr. Safiya isn't a Hamas member," added Naim.

A month after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, the IDF already began publishing evidence of Hamas's use of hospitals, in particular, for terror purposes. In one recording from November 2023, a Gaza health official can be heard confirming that Hamas had stored more than half a million liters (over 132,000 gallons) of fuel under Shifa Hospital, the Strip’s largest medical center.

Hamas was accused of systematically turning Shifa into a major command center and even storing weapons in the MRI building. On Nov. 19, 2023, the IDF released surveillance footage of armed terrorists bringing hostages into Shifa. The IDF discovered the remains of two Israeli hostages, Noa Marciano and Yehudit Weiss, in the vicinity of Shifa last year.

Newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the U.S. to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO).

In 2020, Trump started the ball rolling toward extricating the U.S. from the United Nations agency, but President Joe Biden reversed course after taking office in 2021.

"The United States intends to withdraw from the WHO. The Presidential Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations signed on January 20, 2021, that retracted the United States’ July 6, 2020, notification of withdrawal is revoked," Trump's order declares.

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"The Secretary of State shall immediately inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations, any other applicable depositary, and the leadership of the WHO of the withdrawal," the order instructs.

The U.S. Senate voted 99-0 on Monday to confirm Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to serve as Secretary of State — Rubio voted for himself before resigning from the Senate.

Trump's order calls for the Secretary of State and director of the Office of Management and Budget to "pause the future transfer of any United States Government funds, support, or resources to the WHO;" "recall and reassign United States Government personnel or contractors working in any capacity with the WHO;" as well as "identify credible and transparent United States and international partners to assume necessary activities previously undertaken by the WHO."

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The WHO issued a statement on Tuesday lamenting Trump's decision, and expressing hope that the U.S. will rethink the move.

"The World Health Organization regrets the announcement that the United States of America intends to withdraw from the Organization," the globalist body noted. "We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and well-being of millions of people around the globe."

Trump signed a flurry of orders after taking office on Monday.

One of them declares it U.S. policy "to recognize two sexes, male and female," which "are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality."

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Trump is only the second president in U.S. history to win election to two non-consecutive terms — the first was Grover Cleveland in the 19th century.

Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report