Dr Munir Al-Barsh, director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, warned that the health system in the Strip is facing its “most dangerous moment” after two years of Israel’s genocide, stressing that what is happening:

is not just a humanitarian crisis, but a total collapse of the human right to life.

Dr Munir Al-Barsh: Gaza in a ‘race against time’ as people die ‘in the streets’

Dr Munir Al-Barsh told the Canary:

The health sector has been completely destroyed and is suffering greatly after two years of genocide.

He stressed that what is required from the international community is “justice, not pity”.

Al-Barsh added:

The world must now stand by our wounded and our collapsed hospitals, not just issue statements of sympathy.

He explained that the Ministry of Health has developed a comprehensive plan to revive the sector in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO), noting that:

medical personnel in Gaza are ready to implement it as soon as basic support and resources arrive.

According to Al-Barsh, Israel has completely destroyed 38 hospitals, leaving only 12 partially functioning amid shortages of fuel, electricity, water and vital medical supplies. He said:

We are in a race against time. People are dying in the streets, and operating rooms are at a standstill due to a lack of electricity and equipment.

Watching patients ‘slowly die before our eyes’

He called for the opening of direct supply corridors and the dispatch of urgent medical missions including surgeons, paediatricians, psychiatrists and physiotherapists. Significantly, he highlighted that there are more than 17,000 patients in urgent need of medical treatment who the WHO has approved for travel.

Dr Munir Al-Barsh also called for the rapid establishment of field hospitals in the north, centre, and south of the Strip to ease the pressure on the remaining medical facilities. Alongside this, he urged for the repair of water and sewage networks:

to prevent the spread of epidemics such as cholera, skin diseases and diarrhoea.

He pointed out that thousands of children suffer from chronic diseases, cancer and congenital malformations. Meanwhile women face deteriorating health conditions in the absence of medical care.

Al-Barsh concluded with an urgent call to support prosthetic limb and wheelchair programmes, and to provide urgent operational resources for health graduates and technicians:

to ensure the continuation of the remaining medical services.

He added in an emotional tone:

Gaza is not asking for the impossible… We just want to live, and not see our patients slowly die before our eyes.

Feature image via Al Jazeera English/Youtube.

By Alaa Shamali

This post was originally published on Canary.