- Hospitals under strain in Gaza
- Israel denies hospital targeting
- Medical facilities suffer amid conflict
Medical facilities and hospitals have been engulfed in fierce combat as Israel advances its offensive against Hamas in Gaza City.
Although thousands are ensnared in adjacent battles at Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in Gaza, which has attracted the most attention, other facilities have also reported power and supply shortages as a result of the fighting.
Israel denies explicitly targeting hospitals but acknowledges that “clashes” have occurred in the vicinity of Al-Shifa and other facilities.
Since the conflict began on October 7, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that 36 health facilities, including 22 hospitals, have been damaged; only a handful are currently operational.
Hospital Al-Shifa, Gaza City
The WHO announced on Sunday that Al-Shifa, the largest shelter in the territory with 700 beds, had ceased operations and that the situation was “dire and perilous” inside.
Elsewhere, combat erupts throughout the surrounding streets between Israeli and Hamas forces. Damage has been sustained by critical infrastructure, per the United Nations.
Israel asserts that tunnels beneath the hospital are utilised by Hamas combatants; Hamas refutes this claim.
Personnel inside state that leaving poses an imminent danger of bodily harm or mortality.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, stated on X that “continuous gunfire and bombings in the region have worsened the already dire situation.
According to multiple insider accounts, there is an absence of fuel to power generators and sustenance. Certain critical systems are being powered by solar energy.
Communication problems prevented Doctors Without Borders from reaching Gazan members over the weekend.
“Your path to wealth begins here – don’t wait, get your free Webull shares.”
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, a minimum of 2,300 individuals remain within the hospital. Including 650 patients, 200-500 staff members, and approximately 1,500 individuals seeking refuge.
This figure encompasses neonates that are being cared for in the on-site operating theatre.
Staff said three of 39 children in their care died over the weekend due to a lack of incubators. Doctors reported that viable infants faced a significant mortality risk.
Saturday, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesman for the Israel Defense Force (IDF), announced that Israel would transfer the infants to a “safer hospital” with its assistance.
This evacuation, however, has not yet occurred as of Monday afternoon.
Staff at the hospital informed that advanced technology is required to safely relocate the infants and that there is no “safer hospital” within Gaza.
I am not providing information about a terrorist organization. If you have any other questions or need assistance with different topics, please feel free to ask.
“We purchased fuel specifically for the incubators and the infants; nobody wants to see these infants suffer,” Mr. Regev said, reiterating Israel’s assertions that its forces were not targeting hospitals on purpose.
Colonel Moshe Tetro of the IDF reported on Saturday that while there were confrontations in the vicinity, neither gunfire nor a siege had targeted the hospital.
He stated that anyone who wished to depart could do so. He insisted that it was a falsehood to assert otherwise.
According to Shifa physician Marwan Abu Saada, ambulances were unable to enter the hospital due to nearby blasts.
Additionally, according to the IDF, Sunday’s attempts to transport 300 liters of fuel to Shifa were unsuccessful because Hamas refused to receive it, a claim that Hamas refutes.
On the same day, Mr. Abu Saada stated that 300 litres would “last thirty minutes” and that the hospital needs 10,000 litres daily for basic operations.
The decay of unrefrigerated corpses and the rise in disease from poor sanitation both contribute to this condition.
Mr. Abu Saada said power shortages in the mortuary and fights around the building prevented burial. Additionally, the mortuary refrigerator had also malfunctioned.
He added that one hundred corpses remained unearthed in the hospital courtyard.
Dr. Marwan Al-Barsh, Hamas’ Gaza health ministry director general, said the hospital’s atrium was full of bodies. He also mentioned that the mortuaries were filled with bodies.
He added that medical staff tried to bury the bodies on site, but shooting prevented evacuation.
Israel asserts that it is “certain” that a Hamas command center is located beneath Shifa.
It has distributed a three-dimensional model of a network of tunnels beneath the hospital. Additionally, it has released audio recordings purporting to capture Hamas combatants debating the matter.
Hamas refutes any claim that it utilizes the hospital or that it conceals an operations center beneath. Doctors on the premises assert that Hamas is not present. Rushdi Abualouf stated that he had never observed “any military capability” within the hospital. But acknowledged that verifying Israel’s or Hamas’s claims was challenging.
The Al-Ahli medical facility
On November 10, WHO’s Dr. Tedros said Gaza’s hospitals were “operating far beyond their capacities.”
Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, a physician at Al-Ahli in northern Gaza, said the institution was accepting all Gaza City wounded. However, it lacked the necessary resources to handle the situation.
According to him, ambulances carrying wounded individuals arrived every ten minutes. Hospital personnel were unable to access a blood bank that was reportedly besieged by Israeli tanks.
“We don’t have an x-ray technician and we are short of medication to the point where we’re having to do extremely painful procedures on large wounds to keep them clean with no analgesia, no anesthesia,” according to him.
He further stated that operating rooms were being reserved for critical procedures “because we lack the resources to treat everyone.”
A lethal explosion occurred in Al-Ahli last month, sparking contending accusations between Hamas and Israel regarding the perpetrator.
The Al-Quds medical facility
The Palestinian Red Crescent claimed that Gaza’s second-largest hospital, after Al-Shifa, has halted operations.
On Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that its teams were confined within the building with approximately 14,000 displaced people. The majority of those inside were minors, and there were also 500 patients.
The facility was declared “out of service… no longer operational… as a result of fuel depletion and a power outage,” the organization announced on Sunday.
It stated that the healthcare facility “has been left to fend for itself under ongoing Israeli bombardment, posing severe risks to the medical staff, patients, and displaced civilians” .
It was also reported that “relentless bombardment” forced an “evacuation convoy” en route from Khan Younis in southern Gaza to the Al-Quds hospital to abandon its journey. Those confined to the hospital were further described as lacking food, water, and electricity.
On Saturday, Doctors Without Borders lost communication with a surgeon and his family seeking safety and operating in Al-Quds.
According to a Red Crescent spokesman who spoke with Reuters, the hospital had been isolated for almost a week, with “no way in, no way out,” and the vicinity was under continuous attack.
Al-Rantisi and Al-Nasr, in the northern region of Gaza City
On Friday, with the exception of a few patients and personnel, the Rantisi Specialized Hospital for Children and the adjacent Al-Nasr hospital, both located in the northern region of Gaza City, were both evacuated. Rantisi housed the sole pediatric cancer unit in Gaza.
Concerning the hundreds of displaced civilians camped out at the two hospitals, the hospital representative inquired. At 11:20, an Israeli officer gave them a specific plan from Gaza City and directed them to exit by the main entrance.
He also twice told the hospital official to make sure noncombatants were carrying white goods to protect civilians.
“Everyone will exit with their hands raised,” a hospital representative stated. “Excellent,” exclaimed the Israeli.
On Friday individuals carrying white flags appear to be the target of gunfire as they attempt to flee Al-Nasr. It was unknown from where or by whom the gunshots originated.
The New York Times cited Dr. Bakr Gaoud, the leader of Rantisi, as saying that Israeli forces entered the area late last week and distributed maps indicating a secure exit.
“Our patients were forcibly removed from their beds,” he continued, adding that those in the most critical condition were transferred to Al-Shifa, an institution that was already overburdened and failing to operate.
He stated that the remainder of the population fled to southern Gaza, away from the main combat.
Monday evening, Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the IDF, presented journalists with purported evidence of Hamas infrastructure at Rantisi: a video recording showcasing explosives, suicide vests, and a motorbike allegedly utilized in the October 7 attacks, which was concealed in a cellar.
He displayed video of a deep shaft with a ladder descending the side, which he claimed led to the entrance of a tunnel situated adjacent to a hospital and a school, further stating that it was “absolutely a terror tunnel.”
