The World Health Organization said on Sunday that Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza provides only basic treatments to stabilize cases, has no supplies for blood transfusions, and barely has staff to care for the constant influx of patients.
After a United Nations team visited to deliver medicines and surgical supplies, the team described the emergency department in the main health facility in the Strip as resembling a “bloodbath.”
The World Health Organization said that there are hundreds of wounded in the hospital, with patients arriving every minute, and wounds being stitched on the floor in the absence of almost any drug to help get rid of the pain.
The organization said that only four hospitals, out of 24 hospitals that were operating in northern Gaza before the start of the war with Israel, were partially operating, and that three of them were barely functioning.
The organization added that it is urgently collecting information at Kamal Adwan Hospital, where authorities in Gaza said that Israeli forces recently used a bulldozer to destroy the perimeter of a site that Israel said was being used by Hamas fighters.
The movement denied using Kamal Adwan Hospital or other hospitals to carry out armed activities.
Israel also said that Al-Shifa Hospital, which it occupied earlier in the war, was being used by Hamas.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians are believed to remain in northern Gaza after Israeli forces pushed most of the population south during the first days of the bombing campaign and ground war that began after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.
The health authorities in Gaza, affiliated with the Hamas government, say that more than 50,000 Palestinians were injured during the Israeli operation, while 19,000 were killed.
The World Health Organization said that “tens of thousands” of displaced people are using Al-Shifa Hospital as shelter, and noted the severe shortage of safe water and food.
There are 2.3 million people living in Gaza, most of whom were displaced from their homes due to the Israeli attack.
Kamal Adwan
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that Israeli forces forced hundreds of displaced people to leave Kamal Adwan Hospital and took the wounded and medical staff out to the hospital courtyard.
Citing ministry reports, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “deeply concerned” about the situation.
The Israeli army said that the hospital was being used by Hamas as a “command and control center” and that soldiers arrested about 80 fighters before leaving the site on Saturday. Authorities in Gaza said that Israel detained about 70 medical staff members, including the hospital director.
A video clip obtained by Reuters showed two shrouded bodies, an injured boy, a destroyed car, smashed and burned walls, and piles of abandoned belongings in the hospital. Reuters was unable to determine the cause of death or injuries.
Ahmed Al-Kahlot, a doctor at the hospital, said, “They stormed the building and began searching it, withdrawing the staff one by one to investigate, and the injured (as well).”
The army published a video on Saturday that it said showed soldiers shooting at the hospital, finding weapons hidden in medical equipment, and displaying several rifles and grenades.
Gaza health official Munir Al-Bursh called for an international investigation into the deliberate crime committed by Israel in Kamal Adwan Hospital.
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2023-12-17 22:36:52
