A World Health Organization (WHO)-led team of experts visited Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza Strip on Saturday to assess the situation there. The team, which spent only an hour in the medical complex for safety reasons, calls it a ‘zone of death’.
The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Twitter on Saturday that the team saw “a hospital that is no longer able to function: there is no water, no food, no electricity, no fuel and the medical supply is exhausted.” ‘ The WHO says 291 patients remain in hospital, including 32 babies in “extremely critical condition” and 25 healthcare workers. “WHO and its partners are urgently developing a plan for the immediate evacuation of remaining patients, staff and their families,” the organization said.
The group visiting the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip included health experts, logisticians and security personnel from various branches of the United Nations. They noted damage caused by shelling and saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital. The WHO reports that the team was told that there are more than eighty people in the grave.
Israeli soldiers raided Al-Shifa Hospital on Wednesday. According to the Israelis, there is a Hamas command post under the complex. Hamas and the hospital board contradict this. An Israeli army spokesman said on Saturday that it had responded to the hospital director’s request to cooperate in an evacuation. Hundreds of people are said to have left the hospital on foot, but patients who were unable to do so were left behind. (AP)
Also read this profile about Al-Shifa Hospital: the hospital where Israel claims it laid the foundation for the underground ‘headquarters of Hamas’.
2023-11-19 09:33:45
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