Gaza Health Ministry warns of ‘totally catastrophic’ situation in besieged north
Gaza’s ministry of health on Friday warned that the health situation in the northern part of the besieged territory is “totally catastrophic” as the main hospitals are out of service due to the Israeli regime’s relentless attacks.
Northern Gaza has been under the Israeli regime’s siege for more than three months, with a near-total blockade on aid and relentless air attacks.
The small enclave has three public hospitals, Kamal Adwan, Beit Hanoon and the Indonesian Hospital, all of which the Israeli regime has forced out of service.
“The remaining three hospitals in Gaza and northern Gaza are small and incapable of receiving large numbers of injured people,” said ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra.
“The injured people are being treated lying on the floor and many of them have to wait until a doctor checks their health situation” he added.
Reporting on the state of Gaza’s healthcare system since October 2023, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday that the Israeli regime’s “pattern of deadly attacks on and near hospitals in Gaza … have pushed the healthcare system to the brink of total collapse.”
“The impact of the Israeli military’s operations in and around hospitals … extend far beyond the physical structures,” the report found.
For instance, it continued, “women, especially pregnant women, have suffered gravely. Many women have given birth with no or minimal pre- and post-natal care, increasing the risk of preventable maternal and child mortality.”
Furthermore, the Israeli regime’s forces “have used both heavy weapons and air-dropped munitions with wide area effects,” like the airstrike on Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. As a result of the attack, at least 12 people were killed, including a journalist and several internally displaced persons (IDPs), and 35 people were injured.
The report added that “another feature of such attacks has been the apparent targeting of people inside hospitals.” The UN Human Rights Office verified multiple cases of people being shot dead at Al Awda Hospital in Jabalya, including a volunteer nurse who was fatally shot in the chest while looking out of a window on 7 December 2023.
The Israeli regime’s genocidal war against the people of Palestine has taken the lives of more than 45,800 people and injured over 109,000 others, most of whom are children and women. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced and much of the besieged territory is in ruins.
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