RAMALLAH, Sunday, October 29, 2023 (WAFA) – The Minister of Health met tonight with the Special Envoy for Humanitarian Issues in the Near and Middle East, Deike Potzelm, in Ramallah, where they discussed the health and humanitarian situation in Palestine.

The minister briefed the Special Envoy, along with the German delegation, on the health status in Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip, emphasizing the catastrophic health situation in the Strip after several hospitals stopped working as a result of the continued Israeli shelling and the exhaustion of fuel.

She said that the hospital occupancy rate reached more than 150%, noting that the Al-Shifa hospital is currently treating some 5,000 patients, significantly over its capacity of 700 patients.

She stressed the necessity of working to bring medical supplies and medicines into the Gaza Strip to treat the sick and wounded, to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe more daunting than the existing health crisis.

The health minister warned of the continuing evacuation threats to hospitals in the Gaza Strip, the most recent of which was the Jerusalem Hospital of the Red Crescent.

She appealed to the international community to intervene and break its silence to protect hospitals and medical crews in the Gaza Strip, which have been subjected to bombing, killing and destruction.

She slammed the continued global silence as a green light for Israel to implement its threats to evacuate Al-Quds Hospital.

She maintained that it is impossible to evacuate the hospitals because they are filled with the sick and injured, along with thousands seeking refuge there.

T.R.