The Minister for Health, Mónica García, during her meeting with the Palestinian Minister for Health, Maged Abu Ramadan
At the meeting, which was held at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Mónica García offered to work together with the Palestinian Health Minister to send health aid to the Gaza Strip in order to alleviate the catastrophic situation being experienced by the Palestinian population, victims of Israeli attacks.
"We know that we are at a critical moment for global health and the most important challenge is the health emergency caused by the terrible massacre in Gaza," the minister said after the meeting. "We have made ourselves available to send any medical supplies required and have agreed to remain in close contact in the coming days," she added.
The minister assured her Palestinian counterpart that Spain continues to lead international efforts to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, "and to defend the right to health as an inseparable part of human rights".
Precisely this week, at the WHO Assembly, the Minister for Health condemned Israel's indiscriminate attacks against the population in the Gaza Strip, which is also affecting health personnel and infrastructures. In this regard, she called again for a permanent ceasefire and to work towards the implementation of the two-state solution.
"Thirty-seven of the thirty-eight hospitals in Gaza have been attacked or destroyed, which is a direct attack on the right to life," denounced Mónica García, who believes that "the barbarity must be stopped". For his part, Maged Abu Ramadan recalled that his ministry is currently working to ensure the delivery and distribution of health aid in Gaza.
In this regard, he also recalled that Spain, through the Ministry of Health, was the first European country to organise an evacuation of wounded children and cancer patients from Gaza to be treated in Spanish hospitals and that since then it has carried out several operations, an initiative that has since been replicated in other European countries.
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