The Gaza Health Ministry said Israeli airstrikes on Saturday outside a hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza, killed at least 11 people and injured dozens of displaced Palestinians, including children, who had taken shelter in nearby tents. Announced.
At least two health workers, including a paramedic, were among those killed after a strike near the gates of a maternity hospital in the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Health said.
Photos taken by news outlets showed a colleague of the paramedic, identified by the Health Ministry as Abdul Fattah Abu Marai, transporting a body to a nearby hospital in Kuwait, and injured children lying on stretchers, among others. Children were seen watching and crying.
The Israeli military announced late Saturday that it had carried out a “precision strike” against “Islamic Jihad terrorists” near the hospital, with support from Israel's internal security services. The military did not respond to reports that children were injured in the attack.
The Israeli military has previously declared Gaza's southernmost city, Rafah, to be a safe zone for civilians, with more than half of the enclave's total population now crammed there, with many occupying nearly every available space. They live in makeshift tents.
However, airstrikes on Rafah continue despite the number of displaced people rising to around 1.5 million. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to agree to a temporary ceasefire despite dire warnings from humanitarian groups and many of Israel's allies that any military operation in Rafah would have devastating consequences for civilians. He vowed that his troops would invade the city regardless of whether it reached the United States. .
News of Saturday's strike was “outrageous and unspeakable,” said World Health Organization leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. said on social mediaHe once again called for a ceasefire and the protection of medical workers and civilians.
Victims of the strike had taken shelter near the Emirati Maternity Hospital, one of the last hospitals still functioning in Gaza. Despite having only five beds left for women giving birth, the hospital manages more than half of the estimated 180 births that take place each day in the enclave, according to the United Nations on Sexual and Reproductive Health. said Dominic Allen, the foundation's Palestine representative. The agency known as UNFPA
Allen said the Emirate's hospitals are essentially “the last hope for pregnant women across Gaza.” He added that strikes so close to hospitals pose a “terrifying” risk to pregnant women and newborns, as well as the overburdened health workers trying to care for them.
