ALL CONTACT with medical staff inside al-Shifa medical complex in Gaza City has been lost after Israeli drones bombarded the area around it.
The Gaza Health Ministry said yesterday that relentless strikes have rendered access to the facility impossible for patients and ambulances alike.
It warned that 12 premature babies remain trapped inside the besieged hospital, in a calculated Israeli effort to dismantle the health system and forcibly uproot civilians.
The latest wave of airstrikes is a ‘fire belt’ of bombardment around al-Shifa and its surrounding neighbourhoods.
At the same time, Israeli tanks and armoured units push deeper into densely populated districts, intensifying the ground offensive.
Yesterday’s escalation followed one of the deadliest days in weeks on Sunday, with more than 90 Palestinians killed in a single 24-hour period.
Al-Shifa has been a repeated target of Israeli military assaults.
On March 18, 2024, Israeli forces stormed the hospital under a barrage of heavy fire, ordering the displacement of entire neighbourhoods and leaving hundreds of dead. That two-week siege reduced large sections of the complex and its medical equipment to rubble.
According to data from Gaza’s Government Media Office, Israel has destroyed or forced out of service 38 hospitals, attacked 96 healthcare centres, and destroyed or disabled 197 ambulances since October 2023.
A total of 788 direct strikes have been recorded on healthcare facilities, medical personnel, and supply lines. At least 1,670 doctors, nurses, and paramedics have been martyred in the line of duty.
‘What is happening to Gaza’s health sector is not collateral damage, it is a systematic campaign to extinguish the last lifeline for civilians,’ the health ministry said.
The United Nations Human Rights Office for the occupied Palestinian territory says it has recorded 17 Israeli attacks ‘on or near health facilities in Gaza City’ since September 16 as Israel continues its offensive on the territory’s largest urban area.
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