UN report says Israel attacked Palestinian hospitals 3 times within 2 weeks
United Nations, January 11 (RHC)-- Israeli forces have attacked Palestinian hospitals in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip three times in just two weeks, inflicting injuries and creating panic, a United Nations aid agency says.
In its bi-weekly report called 'Protection of Civilians,' the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the separate attacks, which were carried out between December 22, 2020 and January 4, also damaged hospitals.
The report, carried by Palestine's official Wafa news agency on Saturday, said the first of the three attacks was on December 26, when Israeli aircraft conducted airstrikes in Gaza City. The strikes further wounded three Palestinians, including a six-year-old girl. Civilian structures were hit.
It added that the air raid also damaged a water carrier, which disrupted water supply to about 250,000 people in the blockaded strip, a densely-populated enclave home to some two million people.
The second attack came in Ramallah on December 27, when Israeli soldiers opened fire on Palestinians, wounding two, including a pregnant woman, with rubber bullets as they were standing in the yard of the Palestine Medical Complex. The report added that an ambulance was damaged in the attack.
The third attack was in Tulkarm city on January 4, when Israeli troops stormed a hospital and fired stun grenades inside the building, causing panic among the patients. According to the report, among the patients were those who had been receiving treatment for COVID-19 disease.
It added that the second and third attacks also disrupted the procedures in hospitals.
Furthermore, the OCHA report said that 89 Palestinians, including 16 children, were also injured during clashes with Israeli soldiers across the West Bank during the said period.
There have been rising tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in the wake of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank.
