BRUSSELS, Monday, May 20, 2024 (WAFA) – EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, and Commissioner for Crisis Management in the European Commission, Janez Lenarčič, in a statement, denounced the Israeli occupation’s attacks on medical and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank.
The statement said 31 out of 36 hospitals have been damaged or destroyed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli aggression in Gaza on October 7, 2023. Among the destroyed hospitals is the Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza, which remains today completely out of service, noted the statement.
“The remaining hospitals in Gaza are partially functioning, and operating under severe limitations. Due to the dire situation many of them are on the verge of collapse or had to be closed. Access to emergency medical care is even more crucial at a time when Palestinians in Gaza live under constant shelling and more than 9,000 severely injured people are at risk of dying due to the lack of adequate health care,” said the statement.
Since October 7, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded a total of 890 attacks on health facilities, with 443 occurring in Gaza and 447 in the West Bank.
Attacks against healthcare workers, hospitals and ambulances disrupt vital medical services, they stressed, adding: “They deprive people of life-saving treatment. These attacks must end.”
“At the same time, regarding the mandatory protection of civilians under International Humanitarian Law, the EU strongly condemns the use of hospitals for any purposes other than medical,” read the statement.
“The situation of innocent people in Gaza is as desperate as ever,” they warned.
“The EU is also concerned about the continuous attacks on healthcare in the West Bank, where over 50 health facilities and 300 ambulances have been deliberately damaged in the past months,” said the statement.
The statement warned that a human tragedy is playing out in real-time in front of our eyes.
The European Union expressed deep concern about the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza, reiterating calls for an immediate ceasefire and full humanitarian access to the Strip.
T.R.
