A paediatric hospital and an eye care hospital in Gaza City have been forced to shut down following repeated Israeli attacks, including direct bombings of one of the facilities and its surroundings.
The Palestinian health ministry reported on Monday that the Eye Hospital is the only public facility providing eye care services in Gaza City, while Al-Rantisi Hospital for children offers paediatric services not available elsewhere.
“There are no safe routes to reach hospitals and medical facilities, preventing patients and the wounded from accessing care,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The occupation is deliberately and systematically targeting the healthcare system in Gaza City as part of its policy of genocide against the population of the Gaza Strip,” the statement added.
On Tuesday, the ministry warned that Gaza’s healthcare system was “gasping its last breaths” due to a fuel shortage caused by a blockade imposed by Israeli forces.
“All attempts to salvage what remains may fail under the weight of the systematic destruction of hospitals and health services,” the ministry stated.
Vital departments may shut down within days if fuel supplies are not urgently replenished in the famine-hit Palestinian enclave.
The development comes as Israeli tanks push deeper into Gaza, reaching the area near al-Shifa hospital at the heart of the city. The advance followed heavy bombing across the Gaza Strip.
Israeli shelling killed at least 20 people on Tuesday as of 1pm local time.
Since the genocide began nearly two years ago, more than 65,000 have been killed, including some 20,000 children.
More than 80 percent of those killed are civilians, according to the Israeli military’s leaked data.
No safe place
Amid relentless bombing and ground attacks in Gaza City, the local municipality appealed for “urgent intervention to stop the worsening humanitarian catastrophe”.
“The occupation’s threat of a full-scale invasion of Gaza City further exacerbates the humanitarian crisis and endangers the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians,” the municipality said.
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The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, reported that 12 of its facilities in Gaza City were affected by air strikes between 11 and 16 September, as Israel intensified attacks ahead of the ground invasion.
The targeted facilities included nine schools and two health centres sheltering more than 11,000 people.
“People in Gaza City are facing daily bombardment, famine and compromised access to the means of survival,” Unrwa said on Tuesday.
“Israeli forces placed the entire city under a displacement order, but people have nowhere to go. There is no safe place in Gaza.”
In southern Gaza, the Nasser Medical Complex announced on Tuesday the death of three children from malnutrition and the lack of treatment.
At least 440 people have died from malnutrition in Gaza amid the Israeli-imposed famine, including at least 147 children.
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