Israel has been waging a war of genocide against hospitals and medical facilities in Gaza, Mai Alkaila, Minister of Health, said today after Nasser Medical Complex was put completely out of service due to the Israeli ongoing shelling.
In a press statement this evening, Alkaila discussed the latest developments regarding the health situation in the Gaza Strip.
Further, Alkaila said that as the Israeli brutal aggression on Gaza Strip enters its 136 day, “there is no safe place in Gaza.”
Alkaila pointed out that the deliberate targeting of hospitals and medical facilities in Gaza, putting the lives of hundreds of patients and displaced people who sought refuge inside the facilities, at an imminent risk of death.
She explained since the start of the Israeli occupation’s aerial, ground and sea aggression against the Gaza Strip on October 7, more than 29,000 people have been killed, and over 69,000 others have been wounded. More than 8,000 people were reported missing.
Alkaila pointed out that it is impossible to obtain an accurate data regarding the numbers of missing people due to the ongoing Israeli shelling.
Meanwhile, she affirmed that the Israeli ongoing targeting of the Nasser Hospital complex, particularly after Israeli forces forcibly transferred all patients, including intensive care and nursery patients, to the old Nasser Hospital building, including six patients under artificial respiratory support in the intensive care unit.
The generators also have stopped operating inside the Complex, putting the lives of three premature babies at an imminent risk of death. The hospital was also bombed, resulting in the killing and wounding of an unprecedented number of Doctors Without Borders staff. One of its employees is still missing.
She pointed out that at least eight patients died due to the complete power outage for three days at the hospital, which caused oxygen supplies to run out, stressing that “the number is likely to increase in light of the presence of critical cases that are not receiving the required treatment as a result of the hospital stopping providing medical services.”
The Minister of Health added that Nasser Medical Complex is out of service after turning it into a military base, where occupation forces detained the medical personnel for long hours in the maternity building while they were handcuffed, beat them, stripped them of their clothes, and arrested 70 medical personnel, including a doctor from intensive care unit, in a new crime added to their crimes against medical and ambulance staff, patients, wounded, and displaced civilians.
She said that around 25 medical personnel are now under a strict siege along with everyone in the complex.
She added that the occupation forces detained dozens of patients from the Nasser Complex who could not move while they were on treatment beds. They were placed on army beds, transported in trucks, and taken to an unknown destination.
The Minister of Health said that three women gave birth, including a doctor, in the Nasser Medical Complex, under harsh and unsafe conditions.
Minister Kayla pointed out Al-Amal Hospital and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society suffers from a serious lack of oxygen due to the ongoing Israeli shelling, parturicly after Israeli warplanes intensively targeted two rooms, causing significant damage, which put it out of service.
The Minister of Health held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the lives of the medical staff and patients at the Nasser Medical Complex, calling on international organizations for an immediate intervene to release them.
The Minister of Health indicated that the health sector in the Gaza Strip suffers from a severe shortage of medical staff in most health facilities and hospitals, in addition to an increasing shortage of medicines and medical supplies, such as anesthetics, antibiotics, intravenous fluids, pain medications, and insulin.
The latest statistics revealed that about 20,000 children were born since October 7, and that there are about 52,000 pregnant women.
Regarding the situation of children in the Gaza Strip, Minister Kayla pointed out that the health situation of these children and their mothers is very critical, in addition to the challenges that threaten their lives such as forced displacement, lack of medical care, and lack of vaccines.
She indicated that the mental and psychological health of children has been affected in a disturbing and serious way, as they show signs such as increased and continuous anxiety, loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, and panic caused by the sounds of bombs, and that statistics documented by UNICEF before the beginning of the Israeli aggression indicate that more than half a million children In the Gaza Strip need psychological and social support.
She called on international organizations and the international community to put pressure on the occupation to immediately stop its aggression and implement international humanitarian laws that protect the medical staff, patients and displaced persons.
She also called for the need to accelerate the entry of trucks of humanitarian and health supplies into Gaza, evacuating the wounded in urgent need of treatment abroad and stopping the forcible displacement.
source: WAFA
