Gaza’s Health System Collapses as Wounds Top 100,000

By Staff, Agencies

More than 100,000 people remain wounded in the Gaza Strip, and at least 17,000 urgently need evacuation due to the collapse of medical services, according to Salah Abdel Shafi, the Palestinian Ambassador to Vienna.

Speaking to RIA Novosti, Shafi said that only eight of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially operational, with the rest destroyed or rendered unusable. With the health system in collapse and supplies nearly exhausted, Gaza can no longer treat its wounded locally.

The ambassador added that infrastructure across the strip has been devastated. There is an acute shortage of medical supplies and medicine in the Gaza Strip,” he said, stressing the urgent need for international intervention.

Earlier, Shafi told RIA Novosti that roughly 80% of the Gaza Strip has been destroyed, with over a million people forced to live in tents or out in the open.

The "Israeli" occupation continues to block basic humanitarian supplies such as heating units, sanitary facilities, tents, mattresses, and blankets. With temperatures dropping and rain worsening conditions, more than 288,000 displaced families face extreme hardship.

In a statement released on Monday, the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, called on the Arab nations and the free people of the world to intensify global efforts to pressure the "Israeli" occupation and its backers to halt their aggression, lift the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, and open humanitarian crossings.

The movement stressed that the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza demands urgent intervention to rescue civilians and facilitate the entry of vital aid, tents, and prefabricated shelters.

Hamas described the dire living conditions Palestinians face two years into the genocide war on Gaza, mentioning the severe shortages of food, medicine, clean water, and shelter, as well as the collapse of the healthcare system.

Such conditions pose an immediate threat to the lives of civilians, particularly women and children, as winter approaches and rainfall increases.