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Dr. Munir al-Barsh, director general of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, said that the truce, which began on Friday morning, revealed the extent of the crime committed by the Israeli occupation and targeted everything, including homes, schools, hospitals and health services.
Al-Barsh revealed – in a phone call with Al Jazeera – that the occupation forces arrested a number of medical staff during their discharge from hospitals shortly after the truce came into effect, which confirms that the occupation did not abide by it.
Regarding the destruction of hospitals in the Gaza Strip, al-Barsh spoke of massive and unprecedented destruction of all hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, to the extent that he completely took Shifa Hospital out of service, and destroyed and bombed a number of departments in the rest of the hospitals.
Al-Barsh explained that the medical teams are currently seeking to restart the Indonesian Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital and return despite the great destruction they suffered due to the occupation shelling, and stressed the need for fuel and medical supplies to arrive in sufficient quantities so that these hospitals can serve the northern Gaza Strip.
He also stressed that hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip cannot serve the residents of the south and those displaced from the north, noting that hospitals in the south are not qualified or specialized as their counterparts in the north.
The director general of the Ministry of Health explained that hospitals in the north must be restarted, because the north includes the largest population in the Gaza Strip and contains the largest number of health hospitals.
Regarding the fate of the Director General of Shifa Hospital, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, who was arrested by the occupation after storming the hospital, Al-Barsh pointed out that the Israeli media is talking about the referral of Dr. Abu Salmiya by the occupation authorities to Military Intelligence, which is the highest military investigation body in Israel.
Al-Barsh did not rule out that Abu Salmiya was subjected to forms of pressure, torture and abuse to force him to make false confessions.
Al-Barsh said that the occupation killed about 250 medical staff in the Gaza Strip, with the aim of depriving the people of the Gaza Strip of health services, and to create a sense of insecurity, resulting from the absence of medical staff.
Source : Al Jazeera