Shafaq News – Gaza
Israeli strikes forced Gaza’s Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital and the Ophthalmic Hospital out of service, the Health Ministry confirmed on Monday, warning that the Strip’s medical system is edging toward total collapse.
According to the ministry, Al-Rantisi, which had already suffered damage from a direct strike last week, was the only facility providing specialized pediatric services in Gaza, while the Ophthalmic Hospital had been the sole public institution for eye care.
The ministry described the targeting as a systematic attempt to dismantle Gaza’s medical infrastructure, stressing that safe access routes to hospitals no longer exist. Patients and the wounded, it explained, face extreme difficulty reaching the Jordanian field hospital and Al-Quds Hospital due to the relentless bombardment, calling on international organizations for urgent protection of hospitals and medical staff.
Read more: World Haemophilia Day in Gaza: Patients struggle amid hospital attacks
Hospitals across Gaza have received 61 fatalities and 220 injuries in the past 24 hours alone, pushing the overall toll since October 7, 2023, to 65,344 killed and 166,795 wounded, including more than 2,500 people who died at aid lines and over 18,000 others injured.
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor denounced the use of booby-trapped vehicles in the conflict. “What the world once called terrorism under ISIS is now tolerated under Israel,” it noted, describing the practice as evidence of stark double standards in the international response.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) linked Sunday’s recognition of a Palestinian state by the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia—bringing the total to 153 countries—to the urgency of ending the war. “Recognition doesn’t mean much if there isn’t a ceasefire in Gaza,” it cautioned, urging that diplomatic steps be matched with a genuine peace process.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people marched in 75 Italian cities, shuttering schools, disrupting trains, and blocking ports and roads in one of Europe’s largest nationwide demonstrations against Israel’s offensive, according to Italian media. Under the slogan Let’s Block Everything, organizers of the general strike called on Rome to suspend commercial and military cooperation with Israel and expressed support for the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international initiative of more than 50 small boats seeking to break the naval blockade and deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.