It has been over three weeks since the Hamas attack on October 7, to which Israel responded by attacking the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip.
Since then, 8,796 people have been killed in Gaza – at least 3,648 of them children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The hospitals are now overcrowded and there is a shortage of everything – both food, clean water, electricity and medicine.
At the Shifa hospital, the largest and most important in Gaza, they will soon run out of fuel for the units, the experienced doctor and Gaza expert Erik Fosse tells Dagbladet. It can have serious consequences.
Facts about the war between Israel and Hamas:
On Saturday 7 October, Palestinian Hamas surprisingly attacked Israel on several fronts, whereupon Israel declared war. The attack is the largest and deadliest Israel has experienced since the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago.
The attack started around 6:30 a.m. on the Jewish holiday simchat tora. Hamas fired several thousand rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, while several hundred Hamas soldiers broke through the Israeli defenses with explosives and bulldozers. During the day shall 2000 Hamas members have moved into Israel.Hamas attacked civilians in around 15 villages and towns. Over 1,400 people were killed and around 230 abducted, most of them civilians, according to the Israeli army (IDF). Four hostages have since been released. Hamas demands a prisoner exchange and has threatened to kill the hostages if Israel continues its attacks on civilians. 9. On October 1, Israel’s defense minister ordered a full blockade of the Gaza Strip, and all supplies of electricity, water, food, medicine and fuel were halted. Two days later, the Gaza Strip’s only power plant shut down due to fuel shortages. 12. In October, the Israeli army asked 1.1 million residents in the north of the Gaza Strip to seek refuge in the south to avoid being hit in an attack. Around 700,000 have since fled. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working to get around 200 Norwegian citizens out of Gaza, half of them children. Israel has bombed thousands of targets in the Gaza Strip, and according to the authorities, 45 percent of all homes there have been destroyed or damaged .46 of Gaza’s 72 health facilities, including twelve of 35 hospitals and clinics, are out of service due to attacks or power cuts, according to the WHO. internally displaced.There have also been minor skirmishes between the Hezbollah movement and Israel along the border with Lebanon, and civilians have also been evacuated there on the Israeli side. 20. In October, Israel opened the door to admit 20 trucks with emergency aid from Egypt. Since then, another 97 trucks have been admitted, but Israel refuses to admit the fuel needed to produce electricity and desalinate seawater for drinking water. Before the war, according to the UN, on average, bringing in around 500 truckloads of supplies daily. On 24 October, UN Secretary-General António Guterres accused Israel of “clear violations of international humanitarian law” and called for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire”. Israel responded to the criticism by demanding Guterres’ resignation.27. On 1 October, the UN General Assembly, with the support of 120 countries, adopted a non-binding resolution advocating an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The same evening, internet access and telephone lines were cut in large parts of the Gaza Strip. Mobile and internet access was lost for 34 hours before access was restored. 28. On October 1, the Israel Defense Forces stated that it is expanding ground operations in the Gaza Strip with infantry and armored vehicles, supported by artillery and aircraft, from the air and sea. The following day, the defense stated that the number of soldiers inside the Gaza Strip had increased.
(NTB)
Sea view
Want to enter Gaza
Fosse, who is president of the aid organization NORWAC, is in continuous contact with his staff in Gaza, doctors and others at the Shifa hospital and in the Palestinian Authority in Gaza.
– Yesterday we received reports from the Shifa hospital that they would run out of fuel. When they run out, the consequences are enormous. Then they cannot carry out any operations, and there will be a stop for everyone who needs dialysis and infants who are in incubators, says Fosse.
Together with the doctor Mads Gilbert, he has been trying for weeks to get into Gaza to contribute as a surgical team – but so far without success. They are refused entry due to the security situation.
WANT TO GO TO GAZA: Mads Gilbert (former) and Erik Fosse work for the aid organization NORWAC, and will travel to Gaza at the first opportunity. Photo: Private Show more
May break down
The Shifa hospital only has 500 beds, but currently around 700 patients, Fosse says, adding that many of the patients are “very demanding” to treat.
– There are 100 patients with extensive burns. It requires hygienic conditions if they are to survive. Another problem is the lack of water. Two days ago we received reports that employees were given 250 ml of water to drink every day, and they have to wash themselves in the contaminated well water, says Fosse.
Fosse believes the most important thing now is to evacuate patients and give hospitals access to fuel and more clean water.
– Otherwise this breaks down. I am seriously worried, says the experienced doctor.
For the first time since the war began, wounded Palestinians were evacuated from Gaza to Egypt on Wednesday. Up to 90 seriously injured and seriously ill people are expected to escape from the besieged area.
Here you will find all Dagbladet’s articles about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
BIG LOSSES: A Palestinian doctor at the Shifa hospital in Gaza City cries after learning that a family member had been killed in Israeli airstrikes on 17 October. Photo: Abed Khaled / AP / NTB Show more
– Very scary
Fosse has been to Gaza on several occasions in the past decades, and refers to it as a “very frightening and unpleasant situation” to go into the war-torn area again.
– Mads Gilbert and I would also be affected by the lack of water and food, but for us the positive impact is more important than this discomfort, he says and adds:
– But of course you get scared – there is an enormous sound level there. But I rather think of the children who have no other choice. We are in a completely different situation than those who live there.
He refers to it as a “personal tragedy” for the population of Gaza.
– More than half of the homes in Gaza have been destroyed. People have lost everything and fear for their lives. It is a very brutal situation, says Fosse.
The hospitals in Gaza are running out of fuel according to UNRWA. The Indonesian hospital in the north of Gaza will already have had to close on Monday 23 October due to a lack of fuel. Video: Twitter/X. Reporter: Christina H. Korneliussen Show more
Nowhere to escape
The World Health Organization (WHO) also warns that the situation in the Gaza Strip is about to become catastrophic. The closed border crossings also mean that Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants have no safe places to flee to.
The Israeli military said on Wednesday it has struck more than 11,000 targets in the densely populated enclave since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Israel has urged all residents in the north of the Gaza Strip to go south, claiming that it is safer in the south, but without Israel having stopped attacking these areas as well.
After Israeli ground forces entered the north of the Gaza Strip, there have been reports that the road to the south has been blocked by Israeli forces, and that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are now unable to travel to southern Gaza either.
2023-11-01 18:24:18
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