Gaza: Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital spokesperson Khalil Al Daqran said that the Israeli occupation forces' direct strike on the hospital's main medicine warehouses marks a dangerous escalation in attacks on the healthcare sector.
Al Daqran told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that the Israeli occupation went from targeting buildings and medical personnel to targeting patients' chances of survival.
Located in Deir Al Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital was subject to an Israeli airstrike before dawn on Saturday, leading to the complete destruction of two of the hospital's four warehouses, while causing severe damage to the two others, Al Daqran said.
He added that the strike also destroyed adjacent outpatient clinics, damaged the hospital's perimeter wall, and nearby buildings, as well as affected tents housing displaced people in the surrounding area, causing widespread panic among patients, their companions, and medical staff.
The airstrike destroyed all of the two warehouses' contents, including medical supplies, medicines, and intravenous solutions intended for kidney dialysis and intensive care patients, Al Daqran said. Vital life-saving medical supplies intended for wounded patients and others requiring treatment were lost or destroyed.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital spokesperson said the destruction comes at an especially critical time, with hospitals already facing shortages of more than half of their essential medicines and medical consumables, while a quarter of laboratory equipment has become inoperable due to the ongoing blockade.
Al Daqran said the immediate impact of the destruction of the warehouses would be the disruption of dialysis protocols and chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients, as well as increased risks in operating rooms and intensive care units, which he said now lack even the most basic treatment supplies.
He added that the loss of any additional medical supplies effectively amounts to a death sentence for hundreds of patients.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital spokesperson said the Israeli occupation has not limited itself to enforcing a strict blockade, preventing the entry of medicines, and denying thousands of patients and wounded people permission to travel abroad for treatment, but is also continuing a broader campaign by targeting what remains of Gaza's healthcare system and destroying its already limited capabilities.
Condemning Israel's heinous and systematic crime of destroying the hospital's medicine and medical supplies warehouse, Al Daqran urged the international community, the United Nations, and human rights and humanitarian organizations, to intervene immediately to stop such attacks and provide urgent protection for medical institutions and healthcare workers.
Protecting medical supplies and storage facilities is not merely a humanitarian concern but an explicit obligation under international humanitarian law, which prohibits the targeting of medical supplies intended for civilians, he added.
Israeli occupation forces carried out intensive overnight airstrikes targeting homes and residential buildings, with one of the strikes destroying two of Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital's medicine warehouses.
