Gaza Health Ministry says Israel ‘waging war on hospitals’ as calls grow for end to war crimes

The Health Ministry in Gaza has said Israel is “waging a frenzied war” on hospitals in the besieged enclave, amid growing calls for an end to Israeli war crimes.

Spokesman for the ministry, Ashraf al-Qadara, cited the Israeli attack on Nasser Medical Complex on Sunday which killed at least eight Palestinians.

“The occupation is waging a frenzied war on hospitals and ambulances in the Gaza Strip, and has directly targeted the only mental health hospital in the Strip and the Rantisi Specialized Hospital for Children,” al-Qadara said on Monday.

The Nasser Medical Complex comprises the Al-Nasser Children’s Hospital, the Rantisi Specialized Hospital, the Eye Hospital, and the Psychiatric Hospital.

Al-Qadara said 70 displaced people who sought refuge in the hospitals as well as patients in the oncology center were injured in the strikes.

“The health system has become completely incapable as the aggression enters its second month."

“The occupation committed 19 massacres during the last hours, claiming the lives of nearly 300 martyrs,” he added.

Suleiman Qaoud, a doctor at the Rantisi Hospital also said, “The solar panels and water tanks were also targeted, meaning that the Rantisi hospital does not have a single drop of running water.”

Al-Qadara also called on all parties to work to provide a safe humanitarian corridor to ensure the passage of aid.

“The occupation continues to lie about the existence of safe corridors for the displaced and medical personnel, and that the safe corridors it talks about are nothing but corridors of death,” he added.

He slammed the international community inaction, saying the international silence is a “green light” for Israel to continue its massacre.

Israel’s bombardment campaign against Gaza began after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Strom in response to decades of violence against Palestinians by the Israeli regime on October 7.

The death toll from Israel’s brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip has surpassed 10,000, most of them women and children, while more than 24,000 others were injured.

Gaza has become a mass graveyard for children

The number of children killed in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel

‘Israel committing war crimes in Gaza’

Amid heavy humanitarian toll of the Israeli war, Belgian Minister of International Cooperation, Caroline Gennez, said in a televised interview that Israel must be investigated for “war crimes in Gaza.”

“Israel must be investigated and all evidence points to the Israeli military committing war crimes in Gaza,” the Palestine Chronicle quoted Gennez as saying on Tuesday.

She added that Israel is punishing innocent civilians and violating the rules of engagement. 

She further demanded a review of countermeasures by the Belgian government, including restrictions on importing Israeli products and issuing visas for senior Israeli officials.

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said on Monday that “no one is safe” as the Israeli regime is simultaneously targeting “civilians, hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, churches, and UN facilities – including shelters.”

Calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, Guterres said, “We must act now to find a way out of this brutal, awful, agonizing dead end of destruction.”

“The unfolding catastrophe makes the need for a humanitarian ceasefire more urgent with every passing hour,” the UN chief added.

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