Israel committing 'genocide' against Gaza's health system: Palestinian minister

The Palestinian health minister has strongly condemned Israel for committing genocide against the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip as the regime continues its indiscriminate strikes on the besieged territory.

"The Israeli occupation is committing a genocide against the entire healthcare system in the Gaza Strip, including hospitals, medical doctors, and patients," Mai Alkaila said in a press conference at Palestinian Health Ministry's headquarters in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday, which marked the 43rd day of Israel's war on Gaza, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

"How long hospitals, patients, and medical teams in Gaza and the West Bank would remain hostages to the onslaught, destruction, targeting, and blockade by the Israeli occupation forces without accountability or condemnation from the international community?" she asked.

The regime launched its devastating war on October 7 following an operation staged by Gaza-based resistance movements. At least 12,300 Palestinians have been massacred, including more than 5,000 children, and over 29,800 people sustained injuries during the war.

The regime has turned Gaza's hospitals into a specific target for its military onslaught, alleging that those facilities house Palestinian fighters and their equipment.

Elsewhere in her remarks, the Palestinian official noted that no hospital in Gaza has the capacity to provide services to the massive number of wounded from the incessant Israeli bombardments.

She expressed concern over the spread of numerous infectious diseases, including diarrheal diseases, affecting over 50,000 individuals, predominantly children. Respiratory infections and skin diseases such as chickenpox and scabies have also surged in Gaza, Alkaila added, citing reports from the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

The minister also called for an immediate cessation of the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, demanding a halt to targeting, shelling, and blockade of medical and healthcare facilities.

Al-Shifa, Gaza's biggest hospital, has taken the brunt of the Israeli assaults on the territory's healthcare system, with the regime claiming that it houses a "command center" belonging to the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

ME