People gather around an ambulance after an Israeli warplane attacked ambulances at a gate of the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City on November 3, 2023. (File photo by Xinhua news agency)
Gaza City, August 12 (RHC)-- The Palestine Ministry of Health says nearly 500 medical workers have been killed and hundreds more sustained injuries in the Gaza Strip ever since the Israeli military launched its devastating war against the coastal sliver in early October last year.
The ministry said in a statement on Saturday that more than 310 individuals have been arrested as well, and 130 ambulances have been destroyed because of Israeli attacks. The statement added that healthcare facilities and their staff in the occupied West Bank have also come under more than 340 Israeli assaults during the same period.
The ministry pointed out that the Israeli military’s deliberate targeting of medical infrastructure in Gaza has severely hampered the local population’s access to essential healthcare services.
Poor water and sanitation conditions, compounded by overcrowding, have led to a rise in preventable diseases and premature deaths, according to the statement. “Gaza is now confronting a public health disaster due to unsafe water resources and a lack of basic hygiene necessities for over 1.7 million forcibly displaced individuals,” the ministry stated.
The statement also pointed to a critical shortage of healthcare workers and medical supplies, including anesthesia and antibiotics, which has left healthcare providers struggling to save lives in Gaza.
The Palestine Ministry of Health finally called for the unconditional supply of humanitarian aid to address the severe shortages in Gaza, and the unimpeded evacuation of wounded Palestinians to receive life-saving medical treatment abroad.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation into the occupied territories.
Ever since the genocidal war began the regime has been enforcing a near-total siege on the coastal territory, which has reduced the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory into a trickle.
So far during the military onslaught, Israel has killed at least 39,790 Gazans, most of them women and children. Another 91,702 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well.
