Ambulances Can’t Operate in Northern Gaza Strip, Health Ministry Says

A Palestinian man sits on the rubble of a house destroyed in the Israeli military offensive, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 4, 2024. (Reuters)
A Palestinian man sits on the rubble of a house destroyed in the Israeli military offensive, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 4, 2024. (Reuters)
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Ambulances Can’t Operate in Northern Gaza Strip, Health Ministry Says

A Palestinian man sits on the rubble of a house destroyed in the Israeli military offensive, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 4, 2024. (Reuters)
A Palestinian man sits on the rubble of a house destroyed in the Israeli military offensive, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 4, 2024. (Reuters)

The Gaza Health Ministry said ambulances are no longer operating in the north of the enclave, where Israel has been waging a renewed offensive for nearly a month.

Eyad Zaqout, a senior ministry official, told reporters Monday that “a large number of injured people are bleeding on the roads.”

The ministry also said in a statement that Israeli forces continue to bombard Kamal Adwan Hospital with strikes on Monday, injuring some staff and patients.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The Civil Defense, first responders operating under the Hamas-run government, said last week that they were no longer able to operate in the north because crews had been fired upon by Israeli forces.

Israel launched its latest offensive in northern Gaza in early October, focusing on Jabalia, a densely populated, decades-old urban refugee camp where it says Hamas had regrouped. It has also carried out strikes in nearby Beit Lahia.

Israel has ordered the entire population in northern Gaza to evacuate, and tens of thousands have fled to Gaza City in recent weeks.

The three hospitals serving the northern areas are barely functioning and have been largely cut off by the fighting. Israeli forces raided one of them, saying fighters were sheltering there, allegations denied by Palestinian officials.

Israel has also sharply reduced the amount of aid allowed into Gaza, even after a warning from the United States that it could jeopardize American military support.



UN Chief Says Situation in Gaza 'Appalling and Apocalyptic'

Palestinian girl Eman Al-Kholi, whose limb was amputated after being wounded in an Israeli strike that killed her parents, looks on as she sits in a wheelchair at the European Hospital, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 28, 2023. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh
Palestinian girl Eman Al-Kholi, whose limb was amputated after being wounded in an Israeli strike that killed her parents, looks on as she sits in a wheelchair at the European Hospital, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 28, 2023. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh
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UN Chief Says Situation in Gaza 'Appalling and Apocalyptic'

Palestinian girl Eman Al-Kholi, whose limb was amputated after being wounded in an Israeli strike that killed her parents, looks on as she sits in a wheelchair at the European Hospital, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 28, 2023. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh
Palestinian girl Eman Al-Kholi, whose limb was amputated after being wounded in an Israeli strike that killed her parents, looks on as she sits in a wheelchair at the European Hospital, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 28, 2023. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh

The UN chief said on Monday the situation in Gaza is "appalling and apocalyptic", as he called for an end to the war between Israel and Hamas.

"The catastrophe in Gaza is nothing short of a complete breakdown of our common humanity. The nightmare must stop,"UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in remarks read out by his deputy at a Cairo conference aimed to accelerate aid to the Gaza Strip.

"We cannot continue to look away," he stressed.

He also revealed cthat Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world.

"Gaza now has the highest number of children amputees per capita anywhere in the world —- many losing limbs and undergoing surgeries without even anaesthesia."