RAMALLAH: Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila sent an urgent distress call on Sunday to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to press Israel to stop its attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The move came as she held an emergency meeting with the ICRC’s delegate in Jerusalem and its health affairs coordinator, reported Anadolu Agency.
“Hundreds of patients and wounded are threatened with death at any moment as a result of the bombing and besieging of hospitals, the power outage, the running out of fuel, medicines and medical supplies, and the lack of the minimum necessities of life in them,” Al-Kaila said according to a Health Ministry statement on Facebook.
She reviewed “the catastrophic health situation in the Gaza Strip and the attacks on the health system, where 23 hospitals out of 35 have completely stopped working and the occupation forces are besieging many hospitals and preventing entry or exit from them for medical staff, paramedics and patients.”
Al-Kaila said that “citizens in the Gaza Strip are living in tragic health conditions, as there is no safe place and there are no conditions for survival such as water, food, safety and healthcare”
She once again called on all international and human rights institutions and organisations to stand up to their responsibilities in order to stop the Israeli aggression and promptly permitting the entry of health support and fuel to hospitals, facilitating the movement of patients for treatment outside Gaza, and allowing volunteer medical teams, as well as water and food, into the Gaza Strip.
Since Oct 7, the number of deaths in the ongoing Israeli attacks has surpassed 11,100, including more than 8,000 women and children, the government media office in Gaza said on Sunday. – BERNAMA-ANADOLU
