According to Palestinian authorities, the only coronavirus testing laboratory in Gaza was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike.
Israel’s missile attacks hit Al Remal Clinic, Gaza’s only COVID-19 laboratory. The Hamas-run Health Ministry’s administrative offices have also been hit by the attacks.
One ministry employee was admitted and in critical condition after shrapnel hit him in the back, according to Dr. Majdi Dhair, chief of the ministry’s preventive medicine section.
The director went on to say that cleaning up the mess would take at least a day. Meanwhile, medical personnel has ceased conducting COVID-19 tests.
Israel’s attacks, according to Gaza’s health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Qidra, threaten to undermine the health ministry’s efforts in the face of the COVID pandemic.
According to The New York Times, the lab will be unable to process other samples relating to H.I.V., hepatitis C, and other conditions.
At least 18 hospitals and clinics in Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli bombings, according to the World Health Organization. “Gaza has one of the world’s highest positive coronavirus test rates, 28%.”
According to The New York Times, UN and WHO authorities anticipate a rise in COVID-19 in Gaza as a result of civilians cramming into shelters to escape airstrikes.
In revenge for Israel’s bombing of Muslim worshippers at the Al Aqsa Mosque, Hamas launched long-range rockets into Jerusalem.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, airstrikes have killed at least 219 Palestinians, including 63 children and 36 mothers, and injured 1,530 others. Six more civilians were killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif has been identified as one of Israel’s priority priorities.
“Throughout the operation, we have tried to assassinate Mohammed Deif. We’ve tried to kill him several times, a spokesman for the army, Brigadier-General Hidai Zilberman said.
