Health officials in the Gaza Strip said hospitals face an acute shortage of medicines, equipment and personnel after months of Israeli restrictions on the entry of medical supplies and the continued destruction of facilities during military operations. Pharmacies estimate that about 80% of essential drugs are unavailable, while the Health Ministry reports that international aid shipments have been largely blocked for more than six months despite a UN-declared famine. The Director General of the Gaza Ministry of Health urged an "international action commensurate with the scale of the catastrophe," calling for safe corridors to bring in medicines for chronic diseases and the deployment of foreign medical teams. Ambulance services added that Israeli forces are preventing rescue vehicles from reaching targeted areas, leaving displaced residents with no secure shelter inside the enclave. At Al-Shifa, the territory’s largest medical complex, the director warned that any expanded Israeli ground operation in Gaza City—home to an estimated 1.2 million people—would result in mass civilian casualties. Local emergency officials said the combination of bombardment, famine and the collapse of sanitary infrastructure amounts to what they described as a looming health and environmental disaster.