Over 1M cases of infectious diseases reported in Gaza amid Israeli onslaught

ISTANBUL

Gaza’s government media office has reported more than one million cases of infectious diseases due to mass displacement in the besieged Gaza Strip.

“Some 1,089,000 cases of infectious diseases and 8,000 cases of hepatitis C were recorded in Gaza,” the office said in a statement on Monday.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which killed nearly 1,200.

The onslaught has forced more than 1.4 million people to flee their homes and seek refuge in Rafah in the southern tip of the Gaza Strip near Egypt’s border.

“There are 10,000 cancer patients who are at risk of death and urgently need medical care,” the media office said.

The Israeli onslaught has killed more than 33,200 people and injured almost 76,000 amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar