GENEVA, Nov  10, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - The Red Cross called Friday for medical 
facilities and workers in war-ravaged Gaza to be protected, warning the health 
system there had "reached a point of no return".
       
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that its teams in 
recent days had distributed critical supplies to medical structures across 
Gaza, and had seen "horrendous images that have now gotten worse due to 
sharpened hostilities".
       
This was severely affecting hospitals and ambulances, and taking a heavy 
toll on civilians, patients and medical staff, it said in a statement.
      
 "Overstretched, running on thin supplies and increasingly unsafe, the 
healthcare system in Gaza has reached a point of no return." 
       
Medical facilities and personnel across Gaza have repeatedly come under 
attack since Israel's war with Hamas erupted just over a month ago.
       
Such attacks have dealt "a heavy blow to the healthcare system in Gaza, 
which is severely weakened after more than one month of heavy fighting," ICRC 
said.
       
Israel launched an offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters poured across the 
heavily militarised border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly 
civilians, and taking around 240 hostages.
       
Vowing to destroy the militants, Israel retaliated with a massive 
bombardment and a ground campaign that the health ministry in the Hamas-run 
Gaza Strip says has killed more than 11,000 people, mostly civilians and many 
of them children.
      
 "The destruction affecting hospitals in Gaza is becoming unbearable and 
needs to stop," William Schomburg, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza, 
said in Friday's statement.
      
 "The lives of thousands of civilians, patients and medical staff are at 
risk."
       
The ICRC pointed out that children's hospitals had not been spared from the 
violence, including the Al Nasser Hospital, which had been heavily damaged by 
hostilities and Al Rantisi Hospital, which had been forced to cease operations.
       
"Our partner the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), has been working 
relentlessly to continue operating the Al Quds Hospital, as it desperately runs 
out of the necessary means, amidst increasing hostilities," it said.
       
Gaza's largest hospital, Al Shifa, which was hit by a strike Friday that 
its director said killed 13 people, is meanwhile not only overwhelmed with 
patients but also now hosting thousands of displaced families.
       
"Any military operation around hospitals must consider the presence of 
civilians, who are protected under international humanitarian law," ICRC said.  
      
 "The rules of war are clear. Hospitals are specially protected facilities 
under international humanitarian law," it said.
       
The protection of civilians, including humanitarian workers and medical 
personnel "is not only a legal obligation but a moral imperative to preserve 
human life in these terrible times".