GENEVA, November 28. /TASS/. At least 181 attacks on healthcare infrastructure have been staged in the Gaza Strip since October 7; twenty-two medics have died and 59 have been wounded, Margaret Harris, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), said.
According to Harris, these attacks killed 553 people and left 707 wounded. Forty-five medical facilities, including 23 hospitals were damaged. Forty ambulances came under shelling, with 23 of them taking damage.
Apart from that, in her words, 183 attacks on medical institutions were reported in the West Bank. Twenty-two medics were wounded. As many as 150 attacks on ambulances were reported. Physical violence against ambulance crews was used in 105 cases and medical personnel and ambulances were detained 27 times.
Forty-three attacks on healthcare facilities were reported in Israel. Twenty-four medics and patients were killed and 29 - wounded.
The WHO spokesperson drew attention to the fact that only two small hospitals are currently capable of taking in patients in the northern Gaza Strip. Eight hospitals are partially operating in the south of the enclave. Gaza’s hospitals currently have some 1,400 beds whereas before October 7 their number amounted to 3,500.
The enclave is seeing a dramatic increase in infectious diseases, including diarrhea, respiratory and skin infections, the WHO said, adding that the number of diarrhea cases has jumped by 45 times as compared with the same period last year.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.
Hamas announced on November 22 that an agreement on a four-day humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip had been reached through the mediation of Qatar and Egypt. The ceasefire came into force in the Gaza Strip from 8:00 a.m. local time (5:00 a.m. GMT) on November 24.