The ministry said in its daily statistical report on the number of martyrs and wounded in the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip: "124 martyrs (117 of whom were recovered) and 33 wounded arrived at Gaza Strip hospitals during the past 24 hours."
She explained that "a number of victims are still under the rubble and on the streets, as ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them at this time," stressing that the death toll from the Israeli aggression has risen to "67,806 martyrs and 170,066 wounded since October 7, 2023."
This increase in the death toll comes despite the first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel going into effect at 12:00 noon last Friday, Jerusalem time (09:00 GMT), after the Israeli government approved the agreement at dawn that same day.
Preparations to receive prisoners
In a related development, a health official said that the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza has begun preparing Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip to receive hundreds of prisoners who will be released by Israel tomorrow, Monday, under the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Tel Aviv, which went into effect on Friday.
"The released Palestinian prisoners will be transferred, upon their arrival in the Gaza Strip, to Nasser Hospital for medical assessment and examination by doctors, with those in need of treatment being accommodated at the hospital," the ministry's director general, Munir al-Barash, added on Sunday.
As of 11:25 a.m. GMT, Hamas and Palestinian authorities responsible for prisoner affairs had not published a list of the names of Palestinian prisoners whom Israel intends to release. On Friday, Israel published a list of the names of 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 other prisoners expected to be released under the agreement.
An Israeli government spokeswoman said Sunday that the release of prisoners held in Gaza will begin Monday morning, anticipating that all 20 living Israeli prisoners will be released at once.
Aid entry
Regarding the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, Al-Barash said, "We hope that the aid trucks scheduled to arrive in Gaza in the coming hours will include medicines, medical supplies, nutritional supplements, equipment, and other supplies."
He stressed that the initial needs of the health sector in Gaza, two years after the Israeli genocide, exceed $7 billion, noting that the ministry is still "in the process of determining these needs."
According to the latest statistics issued by the government office in Gaza, during the two years of genocide, Israel bombed, destroyed, and rendered unusable 38 hospitals, 96 healthcare centers, 197 ambulances, and 61 rescue and firefighting vehicles.
The Ministry, along with local and international human rights reports, has repeatedly warned of a complete collapse of the health system, given its deliberate targeting by the Israeli occupation, coupled with a severe shortage of medical supplies and medicines due to the closure of the crossings.
Since October 8, 2023, Israel, with US support, has been committing a two-year genocide in Gaza, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
In addition to the martyrs and wounded, most of whom were children and women, the genocide left more than 9,500 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that claimed the lives of 463 Palestinians, including 157 children.
