The state of healthcare services in the Gaza Strip is now at a critical point and is threatened with total collapse. This comes after Israeli military attacks destroyed vital medicine storage facilities at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital located in Deir al-Balah.
The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that the attack devastated two main warehouses storing supplies of essential medicines and basic medical equipment. Additionally, two other storage buildings were reported to have sustained severe damage.
The Director General of the Gaza Ministry of Health, Munir Al-Bursh, expressed his concern over the escalation of these attacks. He emphasized that the Israeli military's actions now target not only patients, medical staff, and hospital buildings, but also deliberately target the medicine supplies upon which civilians rely to survive.
Before the destruction of these warehouses, the healthcare sector in the enclave was already suffering from a severe crisis. The Gaza Strip lacked approximately 51 percent of essential medicines and 59 percent of medical consumables. Operational obstacles were also worsened by the non-functioning of 22.5 percent of laboratory equipment due to a lack of spare parts.
The loss of these storage facilities is expected to accelerate the total collapse of the medical system and deprive thousands of patients of their right to survive. Responding to this emergency, local health authorities urged the international community to enforce international humanitarian law, which strictly prohibits attacks on civilian health facilities.
