Nov 14, 2023 at 9:42 AM Update: an hour ago
The situation around Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City is comparable to a cemetery, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The dead are piling up and bodies are “in a state of decomposition” as fighting continues just outside the hospital doors.
Thousands of people may be trapped in Gaza’s largest hospital. Injured people, refugees and about five hundred staff members cannot leave because of fighting around Al Shifa.
The hospital manager speaks of a blockage. Tanks and other armored vehicles would be around the doors. US President Joe Biden called for an end to the fighting around the hospital. “Patients and workers must be protected,” he said.
According to Israel, Hamas has a network of tunnels and a command center under the hospital. Hamas denies that. Israel says it is indeed fighting in the region around Al Shifa, but reports that there is no question of a siege. “Everyone is free to go,” the Israeli Defense Forces leadership said.
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‘Bodies pile up and create unpleasant odors’
But according to the hospital manager, that is not possible. It is dangerous not only because of the fighting, but also because the deaths are piling up in and around the hospital. “There are bodies everywhere in the aisles of the hospital,” reports the director of Al Shifa.
“It’s like a cemetery,” says the WHO. The bodies are piling up because they cannot be transported to the morgue. Many are in a state of decomposition, which causes unpleasant odors. The piles of bodies also attract stray dogs.
Negotiations on evacuating patients from the hospital have so far been unsuccessful. According to the BBC the Israeli authorities do not give permission for this. Many patients and children are at the mercy of equipment that has run out of fuel. According to Hamas, seven newborn babies died as a result.
IDF supplies incubators to Al Shifa Hospital
The Israeli army (IDF) says it is in the process of transferring incubators to the hospital. A photo of a soldier near a van with incubators was shared on social media.
According to the army, the medical devices come from a hospital in Israel. There are said to be 36 premature babies in Al Shifa that actually need incubators.
There are more than six hundred patients in the hospital, reports UN organization OCHA. Since the power outage, 34 people are said to have died in hospital. On Tuesday, 179 bodies were said to have been buried in a mass grave near the hospital.
There are patients everywhere in the hospital, including outside operating and nursing rooms. Photo: AFP
The conflict explained
2023-11-14 08:42:27
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