By Anadolu staff
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - All hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip are currently "out of service," despite efforts underway to get any of the hospitals in the area devastated by Israeli attacks operational again.
In a statement on Thursday, Gaza-based Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said medical teams are facing difficulties trying to work at the Al-Shifa Hospital, in the western Gaza City – the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip.
"Despite the difficulties, we will keep up attempts to run any hospital in the Gaza Strip," al-Qudra added.
The spokesman noted that Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, is crowded with about 1,000 wounded people, with patients and injured people lying on the hospital floor.
The Gaza-based Government Media Office also quoted Maher Shamiyya, a ministry official, as saying Al-Shifa is without electricity and is full of displaced people.
According to the Gaza authorities and international health organizations, relief and medical supplies are entering Gaza in very limited quantities, while a lack of fuel, barred by Israel as of Oct. 7, remains the major obstacles to run the hospitals.
Israel resumed its military offensive on the Gaza Strip on Dec. 1 after the end of a weeklong humanitarian pause with the Palestinian group Hamas.
At least 16,248 Palestinians have been killed and more than 43,616 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks on the enclave since Oct. 7 following a cross-border attack by Hamas.
The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures.
* Writing by Ahmed Asmar