80% of Gaza's rescue equipment destroyed in Israeli attacks: Government

By Mohamed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The government’s Media Office in the Gaza Strip said Saturday that “80% of the rescue vehicles and equipment” have been destroyed in Israeli attacks and “there is no fuel to move the rest of those vehicles and equipment.”

“The equipment and mechanisms belonging to the relief, emergency, and civil defense teams cannot reach disaster and massacre areas,” it said in a statement.

It noted that the victims have remained “for days and weeks under the rubble without those crews being able to dig them up, due to the (ongoing) targeting and destruction.”

"The humanitarian situation has reached a catastrophic stage.”

"We hold the occupation and the international community, especially the American administration, represented by President Joe Biden and his Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, fully responsible for the genocidal war that they agreed to and gave the occupation the green light to carry out silently," said the office.

It demanded the allowance of 1,000 aid trucks into the enclave and relief on z daily basis, including 1 million liters of fuel that is needed daily.

The death toll from Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has soared to 15,207 since the outbreak of the conflict, after a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, on Oct. 7, the Gaza Ministry of Health said Saturday.

The Israeli army resumed bombing the Gaza Strip early Friday after declaring an end to a week-long humanitarian pause.

At least 193 Palestinians have been killed and 652 injured since Friday in Israeli airstrikes, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat