Gaza City, December 12 (RHC)-- Palestinian orthopedic surgeon Dr. Saeed Jouda has died after he was shot by an Israeli sniper in northern Gaza. 

Dr. Jouda had left retirement to treat patients at the besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital, which has endured weeks of bombings and direct attacks on its staff.

The administration of Al-Awda Hospital said in a statement that Dr. Jouda was the sole orthopedic surgeon serving the northern Gaza Strip, an area that has been under siege for 70 days.   The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed Dr. Jouda’s death, stating that he was killed while traveling from Kamal Adwan Hospital to Al-Awda Hospital to treat the wounded. 

The ministry reported that the doctor was targetted, purposefully killed.    In response, it called on international and human rights organizations to ensure the protection of hospitals and medical personnel as they carry out their humanitarian duties.   The ministry further urged health workers worldwide to stand in solidarity with Gaza’s medical teams, who are enduring severe attacks amidst what it described as genocide.  

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, the ambulance driver accompanying Dr. Jouda recounted the incident, revealing that the doctor was fatally shot in the head while transporting injured patients to Al-Awda Hospital for emergency surgeries.  

His son, Majd, was killed days earlier in an Israeli airstrike targeting their home.

The death of Dr. Jouda brings the total number of medical personnel killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip to 1,750 since the beginning of the war.  

Statistics from the Government Media Office in Gaza indicate that 34 hospitals and 80 health centers have been rendered non-functional due to Israeli strikes.   Additionally, 162 health facilities and 135 ambulances have been targeted.  

[ SOURCE: DEMOCRACY NOW and NEWS AGENCIES ]