Gaza's health system is "on the brink of total collapse" due to relentless Israeli attacks since the start of the war in October 2023, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a report released Tuesday.
"The series of deadly attacks by Israel on hospitals in and around Gaza, and the associated fighting, have pushed the health system to the brink of total collapse, with a catastrophic impact on Palestinians' access to health and medical care," it said in a statement accompanying the report.
"To date, the public has not had sufficient information to support these allegations, which remain vague and general and, in some cases, appear to be contradicted by public information," he said.
Gaza's hospitals have become "death traps," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk.
"As if the incessant bombings and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the only sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe has in fact become a death trap," he said.
"The protection of hospitals in times of war is paramount and must be respected by all parties at all times," he added.
On Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stressed that the health system in northern Gaza had been "devastated" by the conflict and that its hospitals were "completely inoperative".
Since October 6, Israeli operations in Gaza have focused on the north of the Strip, with authorities saying their ground and air offensive is aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.
Israel launched a major raid on the Kamal Adwan hospital on Friday and Saturday.
This large hospital, the last one still operational in the north of the Palestinian territory devastated by more than a year of war, is now "empty" and "out of service" according to the terms of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Israeli military said Sunday that its forces killed about 20 Palestinian militants and apprehended "240 terrorists" in the raid, calling it one of its "largest operations" in the territory.
The war was triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures.
More than 45,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory military campaign in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas government's health ministry in Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN.
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