The ongoing military attack launched by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on the Gaza Strip since Saturday has resulted in 849 deaths, including more than 150 children and 105 women, and six healthcare workers, and the injury of more than 4360 civilians according to the latest update, WAFA news agency reported.
The PRCS said in a statement that the IOF continues to violate International Humanitarian Law (IHL) provisions by targeting civilians and civilian objects, and destroying the infrastructure in the Strip, which restricts the PRCS’ movement and ability to carry out its humanitarian mission.
It said it also views with the utmost concern the statements of Israeli occupation authorities regarding the full blockade on the Strip, banning the entry of food, water, and fuel, which constitutes collective punishment for more than two million Palestinian civilians, stressing that PRCS and other humanitarian organizations suffer from a shortage of essential supplies needed to continue providing their services, as a result of this illegal blockade.
In the same context, PRCS warned of the serious escalation of IOF violations against medical teams in the occupied Palestinian territory, where PRCS has recorded 23 violations against its medical missions since Saturday. Among those, PRCS recorded seven violations in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the injury of five paramedics, one of whom is in critical condition, and material damage to six ambulances, in addition to serious damage to PRCS’ headquarters in Northern Gaza and damage to the emergency operations room at PRCS’ main headquarters in the Southern governorates of the Strip as a result of the IOF ongoing indiscriminate bombardment.
PRCS also recorded 16 violations in the West Bank, including targeting ambulances with live ammunition, threatening and detaining medical teams, and denying or delaying access to the sick and wounded. In a serious incident that occurred on Monday in Ramallah governorate, one of the PRCS’ medical teams was physically and verbally assaulted, held for half an hour, had their phones confiscated, and was explicitly threatened with death.
PRCS called on the international community to hold Israeli occupation authorities accountable for the grave breaches of IHL, which may amount to war crimes. It further called to provide protection and safe access to the sick and wounded for medical and humanitarian workers, to intervene urgently to stop the humanitarian crisis, and open a safe humanitarian corridor, to ensure the entry of fuel and essential supplies for the operation of humanitarian facilities, and transfer of the sick and wounded who need to receive treatment outside the Strip, in adherence with their legal obligations according to international law.
A senior health ministry official in Gaza said the medical facilities in the besieged Strip are on the verge of collapsing.
“We have a shortage of medication, medical supplies, and reagents required to operate the labs,” Medhat Abbas, director-general of the Gaza Health Ministry, told Al Jazeera.
“The situation is very complicated. We have received thousands of wounded. This is putting a lot of strain on the facilities here.
“Our capacity is only 2,000 beds. We are about to collapse. The shortage of medication is [because] we are consuming in one day what we consume in a month. The situation is so bad. Five of our ambulances [have been] attacked and five of our colleagues killed. There is no safe route for health professionals to move.”
