ActionAid horrified by attacks on last functioning hospital in northern Gaza

ActionAid horrified by attacks on last functioning hospital in northern Gaza; warns healthcare system is on the brink of total destruction 
 
ActionAid said: ”We are horrified to learn that Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, run by ActionAid’s partner Al-Awda, has yet again come under intense attack by the Israeli military. In the last 24 hours, staff report that tank fire has hit the hospital’s surgery department, water tanks, fuel tanks and outpatient buildings. A warehouse housing medical supplies was also hit, sparking a huge fire which has yet to be contained, due to firefighters reportedly being prevented from reaching the site. The situation is incredibly dangerous, with no one able to enter or leave the facility, and around 160 medical staff and patients trapped inside, trying to continue saving lives under the non-stop sound of quadcopters firing overhead. This is at the same time as, after more than 11 weeks of total blockade, food, fuel and medical supplies at the facility are running perilously low. 
 
“These unconscionable attacks are yet another example of the Israeli army’s systematic targeting of healthcare facilities across the Gaza strip, in flagrant breach of international humanitarian law. Multiple hospitals have been attacked in the last week alone. Gaza’s health system is being destroyed before the world’s eyes. Al-Awda hospital is the last partially functioning hospital left in northern Gaza: if it is forced out of service, starving and injured people, as well as pregnant women in need of maternity care, will have nowhere left to turn. 
 
“The world cannot allow these attacks to continue with impunity. The time for words of condemnation is long gone: states must take tangible action to pressure the Israeli authorities to end the brutal war in Gaza permanently and allow aid to enter at scale. That includes by halting all arms exports to the Israeli government and imposing sanctions on senior Israeli government officials linked to any breaches of international humanitarian law.”