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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Gaza hospitals overwhelmed with wounded — enclave’s health ministry

"Less than 1% of the total number of those injured as a result of [Israeli] aggression were able to pass through the Rafah border crossing and go abroad for treatment," the ministry of health said

RABAT, December 7./TASS/. Hospitals in Gaza are overflowing with the wounded, housing over double the number of people compared to available beds, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry reports.

"The occupancy rate at hospitals in the Gaza Strip has reached 206%," Qatari TV channel Al Jazeera reported, citing the ministry. "The destruction [by Israel] of the health infrastructure in the northern Gaza Strip will have serious and catastrophic consequences for the wounded," the ministry said.

"The occupier (i.e. Israel - TASS) is deliberately shelling ambulances and civil defense teams [in the Gaza Strip]," the ministry pointed out. According to experts, due to continuous Israeli bombardment and communication disruptions, medics are having difficulty counting the dead and wounded.

"Less than 1% of the total number of those injured as a result of [Israeli] aggression were able to pass through the Rafah border crossing and go abroad for treatment," the ministry of health said.

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. The death toll in the Gaza Strip has exceeded 17,000 since the start of the escalation, with children and women accounting for the majority of fatalities.

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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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