At least 94% of hospitals in Gaza damaged or destroyed: UN

The UN reported on Friday that at least 94% of hospitals in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, with half no longer operational, Anadolu reports.

Citing the World Health Organization (WHO), UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said at a news conference that “the intensification of hostilities has brought Gaza’s already weakened health system to a breaking point.”

Haq said four major hospitals suspended operations in the past week due to attacks or displacement orders.

“WHO tells us that 4% of nearly 700 attacks on health care in Gaza since October 2023 were recorded over the past week alone,” he said, noting that 28 attacks in just seven days is “four times the average number of attacks per day.”

On humanitarian aid delivery, Haq confirmed that “yesterday, we moved another batch of around 100 full truckloads to Kareem Shalom and picked up about 35 from the Palestinian side of the crossing to bring them closer to where people need them in Gaza.”

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Noting that some 15 truckloads of food aid destined for bakeries were looted overnight, Haq stressed that “hunger, deprivation and anxiety over whether food aid is coming in are all contributing to rising insecurity.”

He urged Israeli authorities to allow “far greater volumes of assistance – faster, more consistently, and transported along safer routes.”

In the occupied West Bank, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that settler violence forced an entire Bedouin community near Ramallah to dismantle their homes.

“Between 13 and 19 May, OCHA recorded at least 28 settler attacks that resulted in casualties, property damage or both,” Haq said.

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