Ashraf al-Qudra: The occupation deliberately hit the infrastructure in hospitals and took them out of work (social media)
Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, said that the Israeli occupation deliberately removed the hospitals in the Gaza Strip from their medical content and made them unqualified to provide their vital functions in rescuing the sick and wounded.
He added – in an exclusive statement to Al Jazeera Net – that the Ministry of Health in the Strip launched on Sunday a distress appeal for all medical teams that were able to reach hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, and followed them on Monday morning, and "but we also demand more support for hospitals in the northern Strip, especially with regard to medicines and medical consumables and provide an appropriate climate for hospitals to carry out their functions in light of the ongoing aggression and repeated threats after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the northern Strip."
Hitting the health structure
The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza pointed out that the Israeli occupation "deliberately hit the infrastructure in hospitals and displaced the population from the north to the south, including medical staff, and the death and injury of a large number of medical staff, the destruction of more than 60 ambulances, the targeting of 160 health institutions, the departure of 28 hospitals from service, and there are 63 primary care centers also out of service."
Regarding the situation of the medical sector in light of the fourth day of the truce agreement, al-Qudra said, "We in the Gaza Strip were directly targeted by the Israeli occupation, and it began to suffocate the health system on the first day of the aggression by cutting off medical supplies, fuel and electricity."
Unfortunately, the medical reality inside the Gaza area and the north in particular is very difficult, and Israeli threats continue. As for "UN institutions, they have not played their role in protecting the health system or in terms of supporting and providing its needs", "which caused a continuous collapse of the health system."
Regarding the volume of medical aid that entered the Gaza Strip following the truce agreement, Dr. Ashraf al-Qidra said that "the medical aid that entered is less than hoped, and unfortunately it was also not directed to hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, and this keeps the health system collapsing."
Supporting the health system
The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza appealed that "the health system in the Gaza Strip be supported with medicines, medical consumables and fuel," and that "field hospitals with large capacities that can respond to the large number of wounded and sick cases" be accessed, and compensate for the large number of hospitals that have become out of service as a result of the Israeli bombardment.
He also called for "the need for many wounded to go out for treatment outside the Gaza Strip, as their stay inside the Gaza Strip loses dozens of cases every day because of the lack of appropriate treatment."
Source : Al Jazeera