Israel has deliberately caused an “extremely catastrophic” medical situation in the besieged Gaza Strip, the health ministry says.
The spread of epidemics and dangerous infectious diseases now threaten almost half of the population in the Palestinian territory.
The Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday that medics have “recorded about one million cases of infectious diseases and we do not have any necessary health facilities to treat these patients.”
A report in early February said at least 90 percent of children under five in Gaza are affected by one infectious disease or more.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), warned earlier that “more people could die from disease than bombings,” given the living conditions and lack of health care in the blockaded Palestinian region.
Israel’s devastating war, which has now hit the 150-day mark, has pushed 85 percent of the population of Gaza into internal displacement due to acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
The regime’s military forces have destroyed 155 health institutions, put over 30 hospitals and at least 50 health centers out of service, and targeted well over 100 ambulances, since early October 2023, according to the health ministry.
The ministry said Israeli forces have so far killed at least 360 health workers and abducted over 260, including hospital directors.
The total number of Palestinians who lost their lives in the Israeli bombardment of their homeland surpassed 30,500 on Monday, the ministry said.
More than 71,980 people have also been wounded.
