Palestinian Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan has strongly condemned the targeting of health department personnel by Israeli forces, which resulted in the deaths of five staff members and injuries to others following an airstrike on Saturday morning in southern Gaza.
In a statement reported by the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA), Minister Abu Ramadan highlighted, “This deliberate targeting adds to the series of criminal and violent acts committed by the occupation against health workers of various specialities, as well as treatment centres and ambulances.”
He stressed that such actions flagrantly disregard all international and humanitarian laws that protect health workers.
Abu Ramadan revealed that since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7th, Palestine has lost more than 990 health workers, including doctors, specialists, nurses, support medical staff, administrators, and paramedics.
Moreover, Israeli forces have detained over 300 health workers, destroyed numerous hospitals, and disabled 130 ambulances, exacerbating the already dire health system across the West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry renewed its appeals to the international community and global health and humanitarian organizations, urgently contacting the International Red Cross and the World Health Organization to pressure Israeli authorities to halt the aggression immediately.
The Ministry is also pushing for the opening of crossings to allow the entry of various forms of health support and to facilitate the exit of hundreds of patients and wounded in critical health conditions.
The death toll from the Israeli offensive on Gaza has soared to 41,391, according to Palestinian medical sources, with the majority of victims being women and children.
Since the offensive began on October 7, the situation has deteriorated rapidly, with reports of 95,760 people injured.
