United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, said Tuesday that the health sector in Gaza has reached the breaking point. In a statement, she called on the international community to intervene immediately to prevent further escalation of the conflict, protect and respect everyone's right to health, protect the health care infrastructure and health workers, and open humanitarian corridors. She said launching more attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip is a major threat to public health, adding that at least 12 health workers have been killed in the Israeli bombing and 24 health facilities were damaged since the escalation of violence in the region. Mofokeng called on the parties to the conflict and their international partners to ensure quick and unhindered access to basic humanitarian supplies, including food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity," noting that the medical infrastructure in Gaza has been damaged beyond repair. She said that health care providers are in a dire situation with limited access to medical supplies as conditions do not allow them to provide timely and quality care. "The Palestinian people have been displaced for over 75 years and the occupied Palestinian territory has been under military occupation for more than 56 years, an occupation with a lack of accountability, ongoing displacement and demolitions, restrictions on movement and systematic racial discrimination," she pointed out. Mofokeng also said workers in the humanitarian field, doctors, civil society, human rights organizations and journalists continue working under bombardment. The World Health Organization has documented more than 111 attacks on health care facilities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including 48 in the Gaza Strip that killed at least 12 health workers. Mofokeng said that Israel is preventing the entry of basic supplies into Gaza, including food, water, fuel, medicines and medical supplies and equipment, adding that the Gaza Strip is suffering from bombing and massive destruction.

Source: Jordan News Agency