UNITED NATIONS, January 24. /TASS/. Only 16 of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip remain operational, which increases the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

"Only 16 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partly functional. Disease is spreading as the health system collapses. The people of Gaza not only risk being killed or injured by relentless bombardments; they also run a growing chance of contracting infectious diseases," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

The UN chief said earlier that over 150 United Nations employees had been killed in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian enclave.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7, 2023, after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border communities and taking people hostage. In response, Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and launched a ground operation in the enclave, also carrying out strikes on targets in the Strip and certain areas of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.