2023-11-12 09:12:30
The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said today (Sunday) to the Arab World News Agency that the “Al-Shifa” Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip is unable to provide any medical service, after all its capabilities were exhausted, the electricity was completely cut off, and the complex was surrounded by tanks. Israeli.
Al-Qudra added that the situation around the hospital is a “war zone.” Pointing out that the conditions that patients live in in the complex “cannot be described.”
He added: “The bodies are piled up in and in front of (Al-Shifa) Hospital, and there is no one to bury them.”
The Ministry of Health spokesman stated that the hospital is witnessing successive announcements of new deaths, as a result of the inability to perform surgical operations or even provide oxygen to those who need it, or provide heating in children’s incubators.
He said that the Israeli army was “firing at any object that could move” in the vicinity of the hospital, according to what the Arab World News Agency reported.
He explained that international institutions working in the health field, such as the World Health Organization, the Red Cross, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA), “are all unable to do anything, and have lost their ability to work.”
Later, Palestinian television reported on Sunday that three infants and five intensive care patients in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza died from a lack of oxygen. Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila warned yesterday that patients in Al-Shifa Hospital are threatened with inevitable death because fuel is not being brought into the hospitals.
In addition, an official in the Hamas Ministry of Health confirmed on Sunday that an Israeli raid destroyed the cardiology department building in the Shifa Medical Complex in northern Gaza, as fighting intensified around the Strip’s hospitals. The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Yousef Abu Al-Rish, told Agence France-Presse, “The occupation completely destroyed the heart department building at Al-Shifa Hospital.” Eyewitnesses confirmed that the raid took place.
In turn, the World Health Organization announced today that it had lost contact with Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
She added on the “X” platform (formerly “Twitter”): “We assume that those we were communicating with are now joining tens of thousands of displaced people who had taken shelter in the hospital, but are now fleeing the area.”
Paramedics and patients at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City (AFP)
The organization spoke of reports it received indicating that some of those who fled from the hospital were shot and injured. Some of them were even killed, renewing its call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which it described as “the only way to save lives and put an end to the horrific suffering there.” The organization said: “Patients seeking health care should never feel afraid, and health workers sworn to treat them should never be forced to risk their lives to provide care.”
Earlier today, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the organization, expressed the organization’s deep concern about the safety of health workers in the hospital and the patients, wounded, children, and displaced persons inside it. He referred to reports, which he described as “terrifying,” of the hospital being subjected to repeated attacks. Pointing out that Israeli tanks are surrounding the hospital.
Deeply worrisome and frightening: @WHO has lost contact with its focal points in Al-Shifa Hospital in #Gazaamid horrifying reports of the hospital facing repeated attacks.There are reports that some of those who fled the hospital have been shot at, wounded, or killed.The…
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 12, 2023
He said that the organization calls for “medical evacuation of patients and those suffering from critical injuries, in a sustainable, orderly and safe manner without obstacles.” Pointing to reports that those leaving the hospital are exposed to gunfire, injured or killed.
In turn, the Israeli army said that it was ready to evacuate infants from Al-Shifa Hospital, and Palestinian officials said that two newborns died in the hospital and that dozens of others were threatened after fuel ran out in light of fierce fighting in the area.
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