The Ministry of Health said on Monday that the Israeli occupation forces committed 25 massacres during the past 24 hours against entire families, leaving 250 dead and 500 injured.

Ministry of Health spokesman Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra reported that the toll of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on its 80th day had risen to 20,674 martyrs and 54,536 wounded.

During a press conference, he pointed to the Israeli occupation’s violations against the health system, which led to the death of 311 health personnel and the destruction of 102 ambulances and their removal from service.

He added, “Israeli violations against the health system led to the targeting of 141 health institutions and the withdrawal of 23 hospitals and 53 health centers from service.”

The Israeli occupation is still detaining 99 health personnel, including the directors of hospitals in northern Gaza, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, Dr. Ahmed Al-Kahlot, and Dr. Ahmed Muhanna, according to the health spokesman.

Al-Qudra confirmed that the occupation deliberately destroyed hospitals in northern Gaza and left 800,000 people without health services, pointing out that patients, pregnant women and infants are exposed to certain death.

He explained that medical teams are helpless in the face of hundreds of critical, dangerous and complex cases and severe burns due to the lack of the required therapeutic, human and clinical capabilities.

He continued, “The clinical occupancy rate in hospitals in the south reached 350%, and hundreds of wounded people are sleeping on the floor in departments and operating rooms.”

In a tragic and disastrous picture, Al-Qudra pointed out that medical teams are choosing between critical cases to save what can be saved, and dozens of lives are lost every day as a result of weak medical capabilities.

Al-Qudra described the health and humanitarian conditions in the shelter centers as having “reached catastrophic, catastrophic levels” for more than 1.8 million displaced people who are exposed to the risks of famine, extreme cold, and the spread of diseases and epidemics.

He pointed out that “900,000 children in shelter centers suffer from the risk of dehydration, famine, digestive and respiratory diseases, skin diseases, and anemia.”

He pointed to 50,000 pregnant women languishing in shelters without water, food, or any health care, adding, “About 180 women give birth every day in unsafe and inhumane conditions.”

He mentioned that 70% of kidney failure patients were exposed to the risks of bombing, displacement, and difficulty in accessing dialysis services, especially in northern Gaza.

He highlighted the reality that the wounded are experiencing, which has reached catastrophic levels, and there are accelerating complications in their health conditions and severe infections of wounds and burns that are difficult to heal.

He continued, "We are losing the lives of large numbers of wounded as a result of the lack of treatment in Gaza's hospitals."

Al-Qudra stressed that the mechanism used to send the wounded out for treatment abroad is “useless” and contributes to the killing of hundreds of them, calling for a new mechanism to ensure the exit of 5,000 thousand wounded as a priority and urgently to save their lives.

He called on all parties to take effective measures to ensure monitoring the flow of medical aid and fuel to all hospitals in the Gaza Strip without deadly Israeli restrictions on the wounded and sick.

Al-Qudra called on countries and health institutions around the world to provide field hospitals and specialized medical teams and reach Gaza to save the lives of the wounded.

He appealed to all international institutions to work immediately to operate Al-Shifa Medical Complex and hospitals in northern Gaza in order to save the lives of the wounded and sick.

Al-Qudra called on international institutions to move from describing the catastrophic reality of the displaced and warnings of its danger, to “finding effective and urgent mechanisms that guarantee their humanitarian intervention” to prevent disaster and famine by providing shelter, drinking water, personal hygiene, food, clothing, and blankets, and establishing medical points for the displaced in all their places of residence.

Read more via the Palestinian Information Center:

https://palinfo.com/news/2023/12/25/869104/