Palestinians flee from Khan Yunis to Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 4, 2023, after the Israeli army called on people to leave certain areas in the city, as battles between Israel and Hamas militants continue. Picture: Mahmud Hams / AFP
The death toll of Palestinians has risen to 19,453 in the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel conflict on October 7, the Hamas-run health ministry said on Monday.
Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra said during a press conference in the southern Gaza Strip that 52,286 Palestinians were wounded by Israel's air and artillery attacks since the conflict began.
He added that there was an urgent need to evacuate 5,000 wounded people from the Gaza Strip so that they can receive treatment outside the Palestinian enclave.
The spokesman said the health and humanitarian situation in the shelters in the southern Gaza Strip is "catastrophic due to the spread of diseases and the lack of healthcare".
He called on international institutions to provide the Gaza Strip with medicines and fuel in order to resume the operation of hospitals, especially those in the northern Gaza Strip, which have suspended their services due to Israel's attacks and siege.
A month after Israeli forces besieged and then stormed Gaza's largest hospital, other facilities have experienced a similar fate.
World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sunday that he was "appalled by the effective destruction" of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, which he said had led to the deaths of at least eight patients and had rendered the facility non-functional.
Israeli forces withdrew Saturday after targeting the hospital for more than a week.
Xinhua