Israel destroys north Gazas sole kidney dialysis facility
The Israeli military has destroyed north Gaza's only kidney dialysis centre, posing grave risks to patients suffering from kidney-related ailments.
The Palestinian health ministry on Sunday released a statement reporting on the bombing of the Noura al-Kaabi Kidney Dialysis Centre, located in the north of the besieged enclave.
The health facility was the lone provider of dialysis services to kidney patients in the north.
In footage posted online, military excavators could be seen further demolishing the northern Gaza health centre.
"The destruction of the centre poses a catastrophic threat to the health of kidney patients, the consequences of which are unpredictable," the ministry noted, adding that 41 percent of patients suffering from kidney issues in the blockaded Strip died during Israel's war on Gaza due to the targeting and restrictions on such centres.
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"The occupation is working according to a dangerous methodology to empty the northern Gaza Strip of hospitals and specialised care centers," the statement further read.
The facility has been previously targeted by the Israeli army, leaving only eight dialysis machines functioning, before its complete destruction on Sunday.
It is the latest health centre to be attacked in a series of Israeli attacks on Gaza's healthcare system, which have left the enclave reeling from a humanitarian crisis the UN says has reached "unprecedented levels".
Another Israeli attack was reported by Al Jazeera at the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, where forces carried out bulldozing activities in the vicinity of the hospital.
Israel expands military operations
Alongside the targeting of medical facilities, 100 percent of the Gaza Strip's population of over 2.2 million people is on the verge of "catastrophic hunger”, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said on Friday.
Laerke added that the “limited number of truckloads coming in [to Gaza] is a trickle - it’s drip-feeding food.
"The aid operation that we have ready to roll is being put in an operational straitjacket that makes it one of the most obstructed aid operations not only in the world today, but in recent history."
The restriction on aid and essentials has left Palestinians grappling to survive, including kidney patients who are in need of specific life-saving medications, nutrition and healthcare services.
On Sunday, the Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir announced the expansion of military operations in the Gaza Strip to include more area under a "decisive phase of the fighting."
Since Zamir made the statement during a field tour in the blockaded Strip, the army has launched a brutal assault across different parts of Gaza.
The health ministry indicated that over 50 people have been killed in the past 24 hours.
According to the news agency Arab48, reports of mild tremors caused by the intensified Israeli bombardment of Gaza could be felt in the Negev and the southern occupied West Bank.
Israel has killed more than 54,470 people in Gaza since 7 October 2023, wounding an additional 124,693.
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