Gaza’s two largest hospitals have stopped accepting new patients due to Israeli bombing and shortages of medicine and fuel, amid reports of rising deaths among patients and medical staff.
Al-Shifa and Al-Quds, Gaza’s largest and second-largest hospitals respectively, said on Sunday they had suspended operations as the World Health Organization called for an immediate ceasefire for prevent an increase in deaths.
Dr Nidal Abu Hadrous, a neurosurgeon working at Al-Shifa Hospital, said patients and staff were facing a “dire” situation, with no electricity or water and no way to safely exit.
“This can’t last long. Urgent intervention to save staff and patients is necessary,” Abou Hadrous told Al Jazeera.
Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza also suspended operations after its main generator ran out of fuel, hospital director Ahmed al-Kahlout told Al Jazeera.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the situation at Al-Shifa Hospital was “dire and perilous”.
“The world cannot remain silent while hospitals, which should be safe havens, turn into scenes of death, devastation and despair,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a message on X, adding that Al- Shifa “did not function like a hospital”. more.”
Three nurses have been killed at Al-Shifa Hospital since Friday amid Israeli shelling and clashes near the complex, the United Nations humanitarian agency in the occupied Palestinian territory said in its latest update on Sunday.
Twelve patients, including two premature babies, have also died since the power outages began, while critical infrastructure, including the cardiovascular facility and maternity ward, has been severely damaged, according to the UN agency.
The Gaza Ministry of Health announced the death of three premature newborns.
.@WHO managed to get in touch with healthcare professionals at Al-Shifa Hospital in #Gaza.
The situation is disastrous and perilous.
It’s been 3 days without power, water and very poor internet connection, which has seriously affected our ability to provide essential services…
– Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 12, 2023
The WHO said 600 to 650 patients, 200 to 500 health workers and around 1,500 internally displaced people remain in hospital without the option of safe discharge.
Among the patients are 36 babies who are at risk of death due to the lack of functioning incubators, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-ruled enclave.
Israeli forces have surrounded medical facilities in northern Gaza, including Al-Shifa Hospital, which Israeli authorities say is located atop a Hamas command center.
Hamas and hospital officials have denied that the complex hides any military infrastructure.
Palestinian officials and people inside the hospital reported that Israeli forces directly targeted the hospital complex with munitions and snipers.
Health Ministry undersecretary Munir al-Boursh said snipers were shooting at any movement inside the compound.
“There are injured people in the house and we cannot reach them,” he told Al Jazeera. “We can’t stick our heads out the window.”
The Israeli army said on Sunday that it had offered to evacuate the newborns and had placed 300 liters (80 gallons) of fuel at the entrance to the hospital, releasing video of its soldiers carrying containers and placing them on the ground, but that Hamas had blocked his efforts. .
Hamas denied refusing the fuel and said the hospital was under the authority of Gaza’s health ministry.
The director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, rejected the Israeli statement, calling it “propaganda.”
“Israel wants to show the world that it does not kill babies. He wants to whitewash his image with 300 liters of fuel, which barely lasts 30 minutes,” Abou Salmiya told Al Jazeera.
More than half of Gaza’s 35 hospitals are no longer operational due to Israeli bombing and ground operations in the enclave, launched in response to the October 7 Hamas attacks on communities in southern Israel.
Israel’s campaign to eliminate Hamas has killed at least 11,078 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Health authorities have not updated the death toll since Friday, citing the collapse of services and communications at the enclave’s hospitals.