Gaza's main COVID-19 test center damaged in Israeli airstrikes: official

GAZA - The main laboratory for COVID-19 tests in Gaza City was damaged due to the intensive Israeli airstrikes waged on the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian health official said Tuesday.

Yousef Abu al-Reesh, director of the Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza, told reporters a health compound, including the testing laboratory, the health authority's offices and an outpatient clinic, was severely damaged after Israeli airstrikes completely destroyed several buildings near the compound.

The test center has stopped working due to the damage, al-Reesh said, adding that several doctors and health ministry staff were injured during the airstrikes.

The official called on the international community, especially the World Health Organization, to take actions to ensure the full protection of health facilities in Gaza.

"The Gaza Strip needs the help of health and humanitarian organizations to ensure medical supplies needed for the protection of medical staff amid the spread of coronavirus in the world," Abu al-Reesh said.

On Tuesday, Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses said that Israeli fighter jets carried out dozens of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, targeting homes, apartments, roads, and agricultural fields.

An Israeli army spokesman said in a statement that the fighter jets targeted a network of underground tunnels belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The health authority in Gaza said that since the start of the military confrontation, 212 Palestinians have been killed, 61 of them children.