Salama Maarouf, head of the Government Information Office in Gaza, said today, Saturday, that the Israeli occupation ´s aggression on the Gaza Strip, on its second day, caused the destruction of 650 housing units, 45 of which have become uninhabitable.
In a joint press conference with Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Maarif confirmed that the occupation’s aggression damaged many civil institutions, including media and human rights organizations, and citizens’ homes, the latest of which was the bombing of a building west of Gaza City, in clear violation of international laws.
He said: "The occupation, with its practices, disregards all international conventions, in an extension of the aggression in which all our lands in Jerusalem and the West Bank have been violated, in addition to the crime of siege in Gaza, and the aggression it is now carrying out."
He added: "The occupation´s aggression exacerbates the difficult humanitarian reality, which is becoming increasingly difficult with the closure of the crossings and the prevention of humanitarian aid from reaching all parties that provide services to citizens."
Maarouf stressed that preventing the entry of fuel portends a difficult humanitarian reality that will have difficult repercussions and repercussions on all sectors, health sectors, municipalities and others.
He said that government teams have raised the degree of readiness and mobilized all their staff, especially in hospitals and municipalities, which are trying to reduce the catastrophic repercussions resulting from the interruption of electricity supplies.
For his part, Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, warned against stopping medical services within the next 72 hours, due to the shutdown of the power plant and the lack of fuel needed to operate the generators.
Al-Qidra announced the cessation of work in outpatient clinics in all hospitals, and the cessation of scheduled surgeries to give full opportunity to conduct emergency operations for victims of the ongoing aggression.
And he indicated that the ministry, from the first moment of the start of the Israeli aggression, announced raising the readiness and readiness in all hospitals, especially emergency departments, operations, intensive care and ambulance stations.
He pointed out that the Israeli occupation is focusing its aggression on targeting residential areas, which has raised the number of victims, including children, women and civilians, and critical injuries.
Al-Qidra said: "The medical staff in the hospitals is working according to the available and limited capabilities due to the Israeli siege that has been going on for 15 years."
Al-Qidra pointed out that the pharmaceutical situation in the Ministry is going through its worst situation in years, as the percentage of shortages in essential medicines has reached 40%, and 32% of medical consumables, and 60% of laboratory and blood bank supplies.
"The continued closure of the Beit Hanoun checkpoint in front of the movement of patients referred for treatment abroad, and the failure to enter life-saving cases, exacerbates their difficult health situation, especially patients with tumors and heart, who face an unknown fate," he added.
He continued, "The Israeli occupation still prevents the entry of 24 diagnostic x-ray machines, in addition to preventing the entry of spare parts needed to maintain other broken devices, which are important in providing emergency interventions to the wounded in emergency departments, operations and intensive care."
He pointed out that the power outage poses a serious threat to the work of vital departments in hospitals, especially emergency departments, intensive care, operations, dialysis departments, laboratories, nurseries, laundries, oxygen systems and medical gases.
Al-Qidra called on all international, humanitarian and relief institutions to stand up to their responsibilities to pressure the Israeli occupation to leave the sick cases through the Beit Hanoun checkpoint and to work immediately to supply the health system with its urgent health needs and fuel supplies.
Gaza: Occupation destroyed 650 housing units and health services are in danger
