Gaza city: Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital spokesperson Khalil Al Daqran said that the Israeli occupation forces' direct strike on the hospital's main medicine warehouses marks a dangerous escalation in attacks on the healthcare sector.
According to Qatar News Agency, Al Daqran stated that the Israeli occupation has escalated its tactics from targeting buildings and medical personnel to directly compromising patients' chances of survival. The hospital, located in Deir Al Balah in the central Gaza Strip, suffered an Israeli airstrike before dawn on Saturday. This attack led to the complete destruction of two of the hospital's four warehouses, while the other two sustained severe damage.
Al Daqran further explained that the airstrike not only obliterated the warehouses but also destroyed adjacent outpatient clinics, damaged the hospital's perimeter wall, and affected nearby buildings. The attack also impacted tents housing displaced people in the surrounding area, causing widespread panic among patients, their companions, and medical staff.
The destruction of the warehouses resulted in the loss of all contents, including critical medical supplies, medicines, and intravenous solutions necessary for kidney dialysis and intensive care patients. Vital life-saving medical supplies intended for wounded patients and others requiring treatment were lost or destroyed.
Al Daqran emphasized that this devastation comes at a particularly critical time, with hospitals already facing shortages of more than half of their essential medicines and medical consumables. Additionally, a quarter of laboratory equipment has become inoperable due to the ongoing blockade.
The spokesperson highlighted the immediate impacts of the warehouse destruction, which disrupts dialysis protocols and chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients, and increases risks in operating rooms and intensive care units, which now lack essential treatment supplies. He warned that the loss of any additional medical supplies effectively amounts to a death sentence for hundreds of patients.
Al Daqran accused the Israeli occupation of broader tactics beyond enforcing a strict blockade, such as preventing the entry of medicines and denying thousands of patients and wounded individuals the permission to travel abroad for treatment. He claimed that targeting what remains of Gaza's healthcare system and destroying its already limited capabilities is part of a broader campaign.
Condemning Israel's actions as a heinous and systematic crime, Al Daqran urged the international community, the United Nations, and human rights and humanitarian organizations to intervene immediately. He called for urgent protection for medical institutions and healthcare workers, stressing that safeguarding medical supplies and storage facilities is not just a humanitarian concern but an explicit obligation under international humanitarian law.
Israeli occupation forces carried out intensive overnight airstrikes targeting homes and residential buildings, with one of the strikes destroying two of Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital's medicine warehouses.