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, Paralel.Az reports citing TASS.

"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.