Overview of health situation in Gaza

Palestine’s Ministry of Health has issued a report on the effects of Israeli aggression on Gaza since the start of the war on 7 October. 

Here are some of the main points.

- Three major hospitals - al-Shifa, Nasser children’s hospital and al-Quds hospital - have been bombed.

- Israeli bombing targeted the main electricity generator in al-Shifa hospital.

- Over 73 percent of the 9,770 people killed are children and women.

- Over 70 percent of Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced.

- Over 2,000 cancer patients who are referred for regular treatment in Jerusalem have not been able to go since the start of the war.

- Overcrowding in hospitals is causing severe health issues and taking a heavy toll on peoples’ mental health.

- Damage to water and sanitation services has caused respiratory infections, diarrhoea and chicken pox.

- At least 25 sewage points have stopped working.

- 175 medical personnel have been killed along with 34 civil defence crew members.

- More than 54 ambulances have been damaged, with 31 totally destroyed in bombings. 

- There are urgent calls for blood donations.

The ministry states that over 200,000 housing units have been destroyed, equivalent to 50 percent and that 42 buildings of the UN agency Unrwa have been damaged. 

At least seven churches and 55 mosques have been damaged.