The Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement that 22 of the Strip's 38 hospitals have been put out of service due to Israeli attacks, amid a near-total collapse of the health system.
Overall, the ministry announced that the death toll had risen to 54,084 martyrs and 123,308 wounded since the start of the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip following the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023.
In its daily statistical report, it explained that 28 martyrs, including five who were recovered, and 179 injured people arrived at Gaza Strip hospitals over the past 24 hours. It noted that this daily statistic does not include hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip governorate, due to the difficulty of accessing them due to the Israeli aggression and its fragmentation of the Strip.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that "47% of essential medicines and 65% of medical supplies are depleted." It added that 477 patients have died while waiting to travel outside the Strip for treatment since the war began on October 7, 2023, while 41% of kidney failure patients have died during the same period due to a lack of treatment and the unavailability of necessary care.
The ministry noted that hospital bed occupancy has exceeded 106%, while only 50 of 104 operating rooms are operating under what it described as "catastrophic" conditions.
Israel is deliberately targeting hospitals and health centers in the Gaza Strip, carrying out a series of raids and arrests of medical personnel, patients, and internally displaced persons, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
For its part, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip has resulted in the death and injury of more than 50,000 Palestinian children since October 7, 2023.
“In just 72 hours last week, images from two horrific attacks in Gaza provided further evidence of the devastating cost of this brutal war on children,” UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder said in a statement published by the UN agency on its website on Wednesday.
"On Friday, we saw videos of the burned and dismembered bodies of children from the al-Najjar family being pulled from the rubble of their home in Khan Yunis," in the southern Gaza Strip, he added.
The UN official continued: "Of the 10 siblings under the age of 12, only one child reportedly survived with serious injuries."
He explained, "Early Monday morning, we saw images of a little girl trapped in a burning school in Gaza City. This attack, which occurred in the early hours of the morning, resulted in the deaths of at least 31 people, including 18 children, according to reports.
UNICEF said that since the ceasefire ended on March 18, 1,309 children have been killed and 3,738 others injured. In total, more than 50,000 children have been killed or injured since October 2023.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Civil Defense called on the World Health Organization and international humanitarian organizations on Wednesday to intervene immediately to restore ambulance services in Rafah Governorate, south of the Gaza Strip, in light of the disruption of these services since last March.
The General Directorate of Civil Defense stated that the disruption to service came after the only ambulance in the area was destroyed during an Israeli attack on relief crews in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, resulting in the deaths of several Civil Defense and Palestinian Red Crescent personnel.
The directorate confirmed that the lack of ambulances severely hinders the transport of the injured and the bodies of martyrs from targeted areas to hospitals, forcing crews to use civilian vehicles or animal-drawn carts in some cases.
In early March, the first phase of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel concluded. The agreement, which took effect on January 19, 2025, was brokered by Egypt and Qatar and supervised by the United States.
While Hamas adhered to the terms of the first phase, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, shied away from starting the second phase in deference to extremists in his ruling coalition, according to Hebrew media.
Since March 18, Israel has resumed its genocidal campaign, launching violent, large-scale airstrikes, most of which have targeted civilians in homes and tents housing displaced Palestinians. On May 8, the army announced the launch of Operation Gideon, expanding the war on Gaza to include ground attacks across the region.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with full American support, has been committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, coupled with a stifling blockade that has plunged the Strip into unprecedentedly dire humanitarian conditions.
