The Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Munir al-Barsh, issued a desperate plea to the international community, saying, “Save what remains of humanity in Gaza,” emphasizing the escalating humanitarian and health catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
What the Gaza Strip has witnessed over the past two years wasn’t just a war, he said, but rather “a crime against humanity targeting people, places, and all aspects of life, foremost among them the right to health and survival.”
Barsh continued that Gaza stands before the world today “bearing its wounds and documented evidence of crimes,” and demanded that Palestinians have their right to treatment, reconstruction, dignity, and justice.
The recent storm that struck the strip has fully revealed the devastation, he said, as a third child died from the cold, adding that Israel has targeted children since the beginning of the war through direct killing, siege, starvation, and the denial of medicine in an attempt to eradicate the Palestinian population.
Up to a million children struggling
Barsh said that over 1.2 million children were struggling to survive under the siege policy, and that 50 percent of children were suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
He added that Israel’s forces killed over 20,000 children and injured over 44,000, with a child having been targeted every 40 minutes during the peak of the war.
Barsh further revealed a “catastrophic shortage” of medicines, explaining that 1,000 essential drug types were unavailable within the Ministry of Health as Israeli authorities were preventing the entry of nutritional supplements and medicines for maternal and child health programs.
He pointed out that Israel has left more than 58,000 children without a parent, including 1,955 who lost both parents. Barsh added that 483 families were completely wiped out, with nearly 10,000 of their members killed, stating, “Gaza has become the largest place of orphans in history.”
Barsh noted that more than 50 percent of children between six months and five years old suffer from malnutrition, and that rates of acute malnutrition have risen to nearly 11 percent at certain times.
Furthermore, maternal mortality rates have increased more than eightfold during the war compared to previous years.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
