More than 1,055 Palestinians have been killed, including dozens of children and women, in the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
A further 5,184 people have been wounded in the ongoing Israeli air strikes. A large number of them are children and women.
For the fifth consecutive day, Israeli warplanes have launched hundreds of air raids on civilian houses and infrastructure in various areas of the Gaza Strip, leading to hundreds of casualties and vast destruction.
The airstrikes have caused the deaths of six health workers, and eight journalists, while 15 health workers and 20 journalists have been wounded, the ministry said.
The strikes have targeted nine health institutions, including the Ministry of Health building, the Rimal Clinic, and the International Eye Center, and bombed 15 ambulances, the ministry said.
The situation is further complicated by fuel shortages and electrical outages affecting generators, the ministry added.
“There continues to be a lack of electricity to operate the health care system. This threatens the lives of all sick and injured people,” the health ministry added in the statement.
Palestinian health officials had been issuing warnings of an imminent stop in the provision of medical services due to the lack of fuel needed to operate the electricity generators in hospitals and health facilities across Gaza.
As it puts the lives and property of civilians in grave danger, Israel’s aggression against the Gaza Strip represents a flagrant violation of international humanitarian and human rights laws.
The unjustified killing of civilians and healthcare workers constitutes a war crime, whose perpetrators should be held accountable and tried before the International Criminal Court. This brutal aggression highlights the need to prosecute those responsible and bring them to justice.