Palestinian health minister calls for immediate ceasefire as death toll exceeds 16,000

Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkalia called for an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Jerusalem, as the Palestinian death toll since the Israeli onslaught began on 7 October reached 16,160.

In a press conference in Ramallah on Tuesday, Alkalia also called for international pressure on Israel to allow medical teams, aid trucks and medical supplies to enter the besieged Gaza Strip.

“We call on the United Nations, international and human rights organisations to immediately implement international humanitarian laws that prohibit attacks on hospitals, health centres, ambulances, health teams and paramedics,” she said, and to “urgently allow sufficient humanitarian and health supplies to enter the Gaza Strip, especially medicines, medical supplies, food, dairy, and fuel for generators in hospitals.”