Iran ready to send medics to Gaza: minister

TEHRAN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi voiced Tuesday his country's readiness to dispatch volunteer physicians and nurses to the war-torn Gaza Strip.

He made the remarks on the sidelines of a ceremony to mark Iran's National Nurse Day in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi, IRIB news agency reported.

The minister said that "we are ready to provide (medical) assistance to the people in Gaza," where hospitals encountered "brutal Israeli attacks."

Einollahi said Iran had ensured the necessary coordination to send medics to the Palestinian coastal enclave.

Israel has been carrying out attacks on Gaza over the past weeks in retaliation for the Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. The conflict has so far led to the deaths of over 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza and plunged the area into a humanitarian catastrophe with its health system heavily overwhelmed. On the Israeli side, about 1,200 people have lost their lives, the majority of whom were killed in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.