DaysofPal- Gaza’s healthcare system is on the brink of total collapse, as Israeli airstrikes continue to target civilians, displacement shelters, and medical facilities, according to senior health officials in the besieged enclave.
Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, stated that the Israeli occupation is deliberately targeting women and children, including those sheltering in displacement tents.
“The Israeli occupation is deliberately killing children and women by directly targeting displacement tents,” Al-Bursh said in media statements on Tuesday.
He revealed that since the beginning of the war, the number of children killed has reached 17,954, and 12,365 women have lost their lives. Al-Bursh also reported that over 52 children have died from malnutrition this year alone, while 17 others succumbed to the severe cold.
The humanitarian crisis is exacerbated by the lack of access to critical healthcare. “Twenty-two thousand patients are in urgent need of treatment abroad, including 13,000 who require immediate travel,” Al-Bursh stated. He added that 60,000 children across the Gaza Strip are currently suffering from malnutrition.
The destruction of Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure has been catastrophic. Al-Bursh noted that more than 1,400 healthcare workers have been killed, while around 360 others have been detained, including prominent pediatrician Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya.
“Twenty hospitals have been rendered completely out of service, and only 18 are partially operational,” he said, calling out what he described as the “suspicious international silence” from global organizations.
Echoing these concerns, Dr. Fadi Al-Madhoun, Medical Director of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) in Gaza, warned that the healthcare system is nearing complete collapse due to the ongoing blockade.
“Fifty thousand patients and wounded individuals are in urgent need of surgeries, and thousands of children are suffering from malnutrition due to the severe shortage of food supplies,” he said.
The assault on medical infrastructure continues unabated. On Wednesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza condemned the Israeli army’s shelling of Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City. The ministry confirmed that the attack caused significant damage to the intensive care department and the hospital’s alternative energy system.
“The Israeli occupation has not only deprived Gaza’s children of medicine and food, but also continues to deprive them of their most basic right, which is the right to life, by directly targeting health institutions,” the ministry stated.
Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra, ministry spokesperson, confirmed that the strike on Tuesday evening targeted alternative solar panels, which had been serving as a critical power source amid ongoing electricity blackouts. “Successive artillery shelling hit the hospital’s intensive care unit, directly endangering the lives of patients,” Al-Qidra added.
In a separate attack, four Palestinian civilians were killed and one injured in an Israeli drone strike east of Khan Yunis on Tuesday evening. Local sources reported that an Israeli drone fired at least one missile toward a group of civilians in Bani Suhaila. The wounded were transferred to Nasser Medical Complex and the European Hospital.
These attacks come in the context of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip for over 18 months, during which Israeli forces have committed acts of genocide against the residents of Gaza. This has resulted in more than 51,000 killed and wounded, most of them women and children, in addition to widespread destruction of the health, educational, and humanitarian infrastructure.
Shortlink for this post: https://daysofpalestine.ps/?p=62292
