1 million Gazans suffer from infectious diseases due to Israeli hostilities: Health ministry

Israel has deliberately caused an “extremely catastrophic” medical situation in the besieged Gaza Strip, the health ministry says.

The spread of epidemics and dangerous infectious diseases now threaten almost half of the population in the Palestinian territory.

The Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday that medics have “recorded about one million cases of infectious diseases and we do not have any necessary health facilities to treat these patients.”

A report in early February said at least 90 percent of children under five in Gaza are affected by one infectious disease or more.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), warned earlier that “more people could die from disease than bombings,” given the living conditions and lack of health care in the blockaded Palestinian region.