Gaza Health Ministry Announces Complete System Collapse

Gaza’s health ministry spokesman announced in an interview with Al Jazeera on 24 October the collapse of the healthcare system in Gaza, with 12 hospitals and 30 healthcare centres out of service, and lacking fuel.

According to Rick Brennan, UN health agency (WHO) Emergencies Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, one in three hospitals and two in three clinics in Gaza were not functioning. Moreover, health facilities and workers have been overwhelmed with trauma cases.

Brennan also stated that even once supplies get across the border, delivery to hospitals is compromised because of the lack of fuel as well as security risks to UN personnel and partners trying to bring aid to hospitals in an active war zone.

UN humanitarian workers have been calling for urgent fuel deliveries so generators can produce electricity for hospitals, as fuel has been absent from the aid convoys allowed to enter Gaza so far.

The humanitarian aid trucks which have crossed into Gaza from Egypt as part of three convoys since Saturday contained a mix of food, water, and medical supplies.

The Conflict So Far

After a surprise attack conducted on 7 October by Hamas on a number of southern Israeli towns which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,200 people and more than 200 being taken ‘hostage’ by Hamas, Israel launched a retaliatory bombing campaign against what it describes as ‘terrorist targets’ in the Gaza Strip.

So far, more than 5,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip — over 1,000 of them children — and 15,273 others injured. Meanwhile 91 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and 1,250 have been injured.

The priority of the Egyptian government since the beginning of the conflict has been deescalation and the securing of a path for aid to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing. Israel bombed the crossing at least four times, and three aid conveys have crossed to Gaza so far.

Most Western countries, with the United States at the forefront, have expressed unconditional support for Israel, despite the steadily rising death toll in Gaza. Meanwhile, Arab governments have called for an immediate ceasefire.

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