UNRWA reports hepatitis outbreak in Gaza 

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has reported an outbreak of hepatitis across the Gaza Strip amid relentless Israeli attacks on the enclave. UNRWA said today that nearly 40,000 cases of hepatitis have been recorded in Gaza since the start of the Israeli war on 7 October last year,” reports Anadolu.

“Eight hundred to 1,000 new hepatitis cases are reported weekly from UNRWA health centres and shelters across Gaza,” said the UN agency. “Desperate sanitary conditions facilitate the spread of diseases including Hepatitis A.”

Israel has continued its devastating military campaign against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since October, when a cross-border incursion was led by Hamas, the de facto government in the enclave. The Israeli offensive is ongoing despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.

Hospitals and other civilian infrastructure have been targeted systematically by the Israeli occupation forces. At least 39,400 Palestinians have been killed, mostly children and women, and 91,000 others have been wounded. An estimated 10,000 remain missing, presumed dead, under the rubble of their homes destroyed by Israeli bombs.

Over nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

READ: Gaza death toll hits 39,400 as Israel kills 37 more Palestinians