The United Nations reported on Friday that Gaza’s healthcare system is on the verge of collapse, with at least 94% of hospitals either damaged or destroyed amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign.
Half of Gaza’s hospitals are now completely non-operational, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), as cited by UN spokesperson Farhan Haq during a press briefing.
“The intensification of hostilities has brought Gaza’s already weakened health system to a breaking point,” Haq warned.
In just the past week, four major hospitals in Gaza were forced to suspend operations due to direct attacks or evacuation orders.
WHO also documented 28 separate attacks on health facilities in Gaza in the past seven days alone — a staggering figure that represents four times the average daily rate of such assaults since October 2023.
“This means that 4% of nearly 700 attacks on healthcare in Gaza since October occurred just this week,” Haq said.
On the humanitarian front, Haq confirmed that the UN moved another batch of approximately 100 truckloads of aid to the Kerem Shalom crossing on Thursday, with around 35 trucks picked up on the Palestinian side and taken further into Gaza.
However, insecurity remains high as 15 truckloads of food aid intended for bakeries were looted overnight.
“Hunger, deprivation, and anxiety over whether food aid is coming in are all contributing to rising insecurity,” he added, urging Israeli authorities to allow “far greater volumes of assistance – faster, more consistently, and transported along safer routes.”
Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that settler violence has intensified.
An entire Bedouin community near Ramallah was forced to dismantle their homes and flee. Between May 13 and 19 alone, OCHA recorded at least 28 settler attacks causing injuries and property damage.
The growing destruction of healthcare infrastructure, coupled with surging food insecurity and settler violence, underscores the deepening humanitarian catastrophe across the Palestinian territories.
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