UN says "near collapse" of health care in Gaza Strip
The health situation in the Gaza Strip is nearing collapse due to Israeli strikes on and near hospitals. This follows a United Nations (UN) report seen by The Times of Israel.
"Israel's sustained deadly attacks on hospitals and their surroundings in the Gaza Strip, as well as related hostilities, have brought the health system to the brink of total collapse, with disastrous consequences for Palestinian access to health and medical care," the UN Human Rights Office said in a statement.
According to the report, at least 136 strikes have hit 27 hospitals and 12 other health facilities since the conflict began to escalate, killing medics and other civilians and causing significant damage to civilian infrastructure.
For its part, Israel claims that medical facilities are actively used by terrorist groups that operate in and around hospitals, as well as launching attacks from within. However, the report notes that such claims are very vague.
"So far, not enough information has been publicly provided to corroborate these claims, which remain vague and general, and in some cases contradict publicly available information," the text concluded.
Al Jazeera TV channel reported on December 17 that since the beginning of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the death toll has reached 45,028 Palestinians, with 106,962 wounded.
In mid-October, a video circulated on the Web showing a six-year-old girl named Qamar Subuh in the Gaza Strip carrying her injured five-year-old sister Sumaya to the hospital, shouldering her. The girl said she misses her father very much, whom she has not seen since her family left to seek refuge in northern Gaza.
The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, when Hamas launched a massive barrage of rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, as well as invading border areas in the south and taking hostages. That same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes against targets in Gaza.
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