GAZA CITY, Palestine 

Five employees of the Health Ministry in Gaza were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the ministry’s storage facilities in the Musbah area of Rafah, southern Gaza, the ministry said on Saturday.

In a statement, the ministry said that ambulances have been unable to reach the site to recover the bodies or assist the injured and called on international organizations to intervene to protect and rescue those trapped.

Since the start of the war on Gaza on Oct. 7, the Israeli army has targeted Gaza's hospitals and medical facilities, rendering most out of service, and putting the lives of doctors, workers, and patients at risk, according to Palestinian and international reports.

The Gaza government media office reported that 986 medical staff have been killed in the ongoing war.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack last October despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 41,400 people, mostly women and children, have since been killed and over 95,700 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi