Gaza’s main Covid-19 laboratory, the Rimal clinic, is unable to carry out coronavirus testing after being destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health said, warning the situation “certainly poses a high risk of the spread of the virus.”
The ministry issued the warning in a statement about the effect of Israeli airstrikes on medical facilities in Gaza.
“A number of health facilities (21), including the MOH administrative complex and Rimal clinic, have been targeted or affected by the airstrikes. Thus, COVID-19 laboratory testing services, that are solely provided at the MOH Central Laboratory in Rimal clinic, have been completely ceased, which certainly poses high risks of widespread of the virus,” the ministry said Wednesday.
The Rimal clinic was damaged by Israeli airstrikes on Monday, Hamas authorities said. Video from the scene showed windows blown out in the building. At the time, Hamas referred to the clinic as one of Gaza’s main coronavirus testing centers.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces told CNN on Tuesday that it targeted the main operations center of the Hamas internal security forces in the Rimal neighborhood, and that the target building was close to the clinic.
The Ministry of Health statement called UN agencies and humanitarian organizations “to protect health teams and establishments, as well as to advance pressure on the Israeli side to allow entry of critically needed medical supplies into the Gaza Strip ASAP.”
Israel – which controls two entry points into Gaza – briefly opened the crossings on Tuesday, but said it closed them in response to mortar fire from the territory towards Israel.
On Wednesday, mortars were again fired from Gaza as a shipment of aid from Jordan, including medical supplies, was passing through the Kerem Shalom crossing, prompting Israel again to close the crossing, Israeli authorities said. The shipment did not get through.
