JAKARTA - Israel's largest destruction of hospitals in Gaza in attacks over the past two weeks, has destroyed the health care system in the enclave, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
Israeli forces left Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Monday after a two-week operation by special forces, leaving hundreds of people dead who Israel said were a militant group, while Hamas and medical militants denied any fighters there, and detained hundreds of militant suspects.
"We have been in contact with staff. The director told us Al Shifa Hospital no longer exists. The hospital can no longer function in any form as a hospital," WHO spokesman Margaret Harris said.
"Dismantling Al Shifa means removing the heart from the health system," he continued.
The WHO hopes to send a mission on Tuesday to the site, to see what can be done to save the lives of the remaining patients. Harris said he had no information on whether Israel had given permission to carry out such a mission.
"We've been trying to leave for days," he said.
"Most of our missions have been rejected," he said.
SEE ALSO:
Al Shifa, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip before the war, was one of the few health facilities that partially operated in the northern region of Gaza before the attack.
Palestinian officials said the attack on hospitals treating seriously injured patients was a war crime.
On the other hand, Israel says Hamas is deliberately operating among vulnerable civilians.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
