2023-11-19 02:06:38
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for the complete evacuation of the largest clinic in the Gaza Strip following visiting Al-Shifa Hospital. WHO and its partners are drawing up plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families, the WHO wrote in a statement on Sunday. WHO experts had previously visited the clinic, which was under the control of the Israeli army – and spoke of a “death zone”.
The situation in the hospital was “desperate,” said the WHO statement on the experts’ visit. 291 patients and 25 medical staff are currently still in the hospital. The WHO wants to organize several operations in the coming days to quickly evacuate patients to Nasser Hospital and the European Hospital in the Gaza Strip, even though they are already overcrowded.
“The current situation is unbearable and unjustifiable,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X (formerly Twitter) – and demanded: “Ceasefire. NOW”. In the hospital there is no water, no electricity, no food and hardly any medical needs.
The expert team found a mass grave at the entrance to the hospital and was informed that more than 80 people were buried there, the WHO wrote in its statement. There were traces of shots and gunfire. The hospital’s corridors and grounds are full of medical and other waste, which increases the risk of infection. The hospital essentially no longer functions as a medical facility.
According to the WHO report, the majority of patients remaining in Al-Shifa have suffered complex fractures or amputations, burns, and chest or abdominal injuries. 29 patients had severe spinal injuries and were unable to move without medical help. Many injured people also suffered from serious infections because there was a lack of antibiotics and poor hygienic conditions.
The Israeli army has been searching the Al-Shifa Clinic site for days for the Hamas operations center, which it suspects is located under the sprawling complex. According to UN information, there were around 2,300 patients, injured and displaced people in the hospital complex before the Israeli army arrived on the site on Wednesday.
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