Israel has targeted 637 health workers, killing at least 295 while injuring 342 others.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has left the besieged enclave with only six functioning ambulances to transport thousands of injured Palestinians, the local health authorities confirmed on Saturday.
The figures came in a press statement by Gaza’s health authorities over the medical sector’s dire situation under the ongoing Israeli genocide that has persisted for 100 days.
Israel has killed at least 23,843 Palestinians and wounded more than 60,317 others while displacing nearly two million of Gaza’s population.
The medical sector has been among the key targets since the beginning of the onslaught in Gaza, leaving only 15 out of 36 hospitals partially functioning.
Gaza’s health ministry warned of the spread of diseases among displaced Palestinians, especially children.
“We call on the international community and human rights institutions to help reconstruct the Gaza Strip’s health sector and to introduce devices, equipment, medicines and medical supplies,” the statement said.
Israel has targeted 637 health workers, killing at least 295 while injuring 342 others, according to Euro-Med. The occupation forces also targeted 183 health facilities, including 23 hospitals and 57 clinics.
The complete Israeli air, land and sea blockade on Gaza has worsened the crisis, with barely any sufficient aid entering the Strip.
At least 200 trucks are required to enter through the Rafah Crossing, a number that is still significantly less than the pre-war daily average of 500, according to the United Nations.
Gaza has been facing a power blackout since Friday that has risked the lives of injured Palestinians, including incubator babies, at hospitals.
Israel then killed two staff from the Palestinian telecommunications company, Paltel, on Saturday while they were repairing the communications network in southern Gaza.
Lack of aid access
There are currently more than 2 million displaced Palestinians struggling to access vital food and medical aid as well as heating devices during the harsh cold season.
The commissioner-general of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, warned that the clock is “ticking fast towards famine” in Gaza.
“The massive death, destruction, displacement, hunger, loss, and grief of the last 100 days are staining our shared humanity,” Lazzarini said, noting it has been the largest displacement of Palestinians since 1948.
He added that “an entire generation of children is traumatised and will take years to heal.”
“The crisis in Gaza is a man-made disaster compounded by dehumanising language and the use of food, water and fuel as instruments of war. The humanitarian operation has fast become one of the most complex and challenging in the world,” Lazzarini said.
The Norwegian Refugee Council separately told Al Jazeera that its workers in Gaza were suffering as they try to carry out their duties.
“They’ve experienced loss, grief, displacement and of course fear. Their children cannot have a full night of sleep, fresh food, or clean water for 100 days now,” the aid group’s Ahmed Bayram told Al Jazeera on Sunday,
Despite the global outrage and mass protests, Israel has continued to act with impunity and carry out more killings in Gaza and raids in the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that he would continue the war on Gaza, saying it “is possible and necessary to continue until victory”, referring to his goal of eliminating Hamas.
South Africa held Israel to account by taking up its crimes in Gaza to the International Court of Justice on December 29, 2023. South Africa presented its testimonies at the ICJ on January 11, where it outlined Israel’s “genocidal intent”.
Adila Hassim, one of South Africa’s representatives at The Hague, listed a series of violations of the Genocide Convention – to which Israel is a party – including the “mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza.”
“South Africa contends that Israel has transgressed Article 2 of the convention by committing actions that fall within the definition of genocide. The actions show systematic patterns of conduct from which genocide can be inferred,” she said.
Israel presented its argument on Friday, where its lawyers accused South Africa of presenting a “distorted factual and legal picture.”
Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters flooded Washington, DC, on Saturday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, holding signs saying “end the war on Gaza” among others.
