Gaza Warns of Collapse of Laboratory Services Amid Worsening Medical Shortage... Casualties Reported in Gaza Strip and West Bank

Health authorities in the Gaza Strip warned yesterday of a worsening acute shortage of essential laboratory supplies and equipment, and its serious repercussions on hospitals’ ability to diagnose and monitor thousands of patients across various medical departments.

In a press statement, the health authorities said that medical laboratories are facing a severe shortage of chemical testing devices, which are fundamental pillars of daily medical work. They noted that the laboratory system has suffered widespread damage, resulting in 52% of its total equipment being taken out of service.

They added that 30% of the remaining devices are worn out and suffer from frequent breakdowns due to the unavailability of necessary spare parts for maintenance, threatening sudden shutdowns and increasing the risks of disrupting essential diagnostic services.

The authorities emphasized the urgent need to introduce modern laboratory equipment to promptly replace those out of service, alongside providing essential spare parts to preserve the remaining operational capacity of the laboratories. They warned that continuing this situation would undermine the ability of medical staff to conduct necessary tests, diagnose cases, and monitor patients, cautioning that the halt of laboratory services would add new pressure to a health system already suffering from the repercussions of a severe shortage of medical capabilities.

The health authorities called for an urgent intervention to facilitate the entry of devices, equipment, and necessary spare parts before laboratory services come to a complete halt, and before direct repercussions on patient care ensue.

On the ground, at least three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip yesterday, while a fourth died while in custody at a military checkpoint in the West Bank, according to Palestinian medical and local sources.

Local sources said an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle targeted a gathering of Palestinians near the “Asd’aa” area in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip, with a missile.

Nasser Medical Complex issued a brief statement saying it received one dead person and several injured individuals with varying degrees of injury as a result of the Israeli raid.

In the center of the Strip, one person was killed and nine others were injured, some seriously, in an Israeli airstrike targeting a civilian car south of Deir al-Balah city, according to medical sources, who added that they were transported to hospitals.

Medical sources also reported that a six-year-old girl was killed after being shot by the Israeli army inside her displacement tent in the “Wadi Al-Salqa” area south of Deir al-Balah city in the central Strip.

At the same time, eyewitnesses reported that Israeli helicopter gunships opened fire east of Gaza City, while army forces carried out demolitions of residential homes in the Shuja’iyya and Tuffah neighborhoods east of the city.

Eyewitnesses continued that Israeli artillery shelled areas east of the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Strip, while eastern areas of Hamad city north of Khan Younis witnessed gunfire from Israeli vehicles.

In the West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society announced in a statement the death of Ra’fat Khairy Ahmad Abu Khalil, 45, yesterday while he was in custody at the Anab military checkpoint established by the Israeli army east of Tulkarm city.

The statement said that Red Crescent teams received a report of a critical condition of a citizen at the checkpoint, rushed to the location, and began treating him. He was undergoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation after his heart stopped, before he passed away and his death was declared.

It added that Red Crescent teams transported Abu Khalil’s body to Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarm city, without further details.

According to local sources, Abu Khalil worked as a sergeant in the Palestinian Military Training Authority in Jericho city.

The Israeli army did not issue any comment on the incident.

Meanwhile, Palestinian local sources reported that Israeli settlers burned a vehicle, attacked Palestinian homes, and wrote “racist” slogans on their walls in the town of Al-Samu, south of Hebron city in the West Bank.

In another incident, settlers attacked Palestinian farmers while they were harvesting olives on their lands in the town of Ramin east of Tulkarm, stealing the olives and harvesting equipment, and assaulting one of the farmers with beatings, according to sources.

Several Palestinians also suffered from asphyxiation after Israeli army forces launched tear gas canisters during their confrontation with a settler attack in the village of Al-Mughayir east of Ramallah, while dozens of dunams planted with olive trees were bulldozed.