70% of Palestinians Martyred by “Israel” Are Women, Children

By Staff, Agencies

The Palestinian Health Ministry announced that women and children comprise 70 percent of nearly 18,800 people martyred in Gaza Strip during “Israel’s” barbaric aggression against the besieged territory.

In a statement on Sunday, the Ramallah-based ministry said the death toll covers a period of 70 days between October 7 and December 15.

More than 300 health sector workers, 86 journalists, 135 employees of the UN agency for the Palestinian refugees [UNRWA] and approximately 35 civil defense workers are among the death toll, it added.

The ministry also said that over 51,100 Palestinians have been wounded in the “Israeli” aggression on Gaza, with scores of other people unaccounted for.

It further noted that only eight out of 36 Gaza hospitals are partially functional, and that occupancy rates have soared to 206 percent in inpatient departments and 250 percent in intensive care units.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said that “Israel” is seeking to “eliminate” the Palestinian territory’s health care system through its ongoing attacks on hospitals.

“What the occupation is doing is part of the scenario that began in northern Gaza from the Shifa complex,” he said.

“Targeting Nasser medical complex is part of the occupation’s policy to eliminate the health sector and would bring down the health system in the southern Gaza Strip.”

Meanwhile, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini raised the alarm at the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.

“By any account, I haven’t seen anything of this scale,” he said, noting that “Everything is absolutely unprecedented and staggering… In 40 days, more women and children killed than the number of civilians in the Ukraine war.”