The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced – yesterday, Sunday – that the Israeli occupation is terrorizing patients and medical staff at Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital through drones. The World Health Organization said that it was forced to cancel a mission to deliver medical supplies to the northern Gaza Strip – yesterday, Sunday – because it was unable to obtain security guarantees.
The organization added that this is the fourth time that it has been forced to cancel a mission to deliver much-needed medical supplies to Al-Awda Hospital and the central medicine warehouse in northern Gaza since December 26.
The World Health Organization office in the occupied Palestinian territories said – in a tweet on the X platform – that “12 days have now passed since the last time we were able to reach northern Gaza.”
He added, “The violent bombardment, restrictions on movement, and communications blackouts make it almost impossible to deliver medical supplies regularly and safely throughout Gaza, especially in the north.”
The World Health Organization said that the handover, which was scheduled for yesterday, Sunday, aims to support the operations of 5 hospitals in the northern part of the Strip.
For his part, Israeli government spokesman Elon Levy said that he had no information about what the World Health Organization was saying, and referred questions to the army.
For his part, the organization’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “I was shocked by the extent of the health needs and destruction in northern Gaza.”
“Further delay would lead to more deaths and suffering for a very large number of people,” he wrote on the X platform.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital
In separate comments, the International Rescue Committee said that its emergency medical team and the Palestinian Medical Aid Charitable Society were forced to withdraw and stop their activities at Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central region of Gaza, due to the increase in Israeli military operations in the region.
For its part, the World Health Organization said that Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital (central Gaza Strip) has lost many of its employees, and that it is currently working with only about 30% of those who were working before the Israeli evacuation orders.
This came in a report published by the United Nations News website, following a visit conducted by a team from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to Al-Aqsa Hospital, yesterday, Sunday.
According to the report, WHO Emergency Medical Team Coordinator Sean Casey said, “The scene in the hospital is chaotic, and its location is close to the area that was evacuated yesterday (Saturday).”
He added that the hospital has lost many of its employees, and is currently working with about 30% of the employees who were there only a few days ago.
A few days ago, Israeli forces issued orders to evacuate the area surrounding the hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah using leaflets dropped from the air.
Yesterday, Sunday, the Gaza Ministry of Health said – in a statement – that the Israeli occupation is terrorizing patients and medical staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital through drones.
She pointed out that the Israeli marches are firing intensely towards the sections and courtyards of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, targeting everyone who moves, explaining that the wounded and patients are fleeing from the hospital under Israeli fire.
On Sunday, Anadolu’s correspondent monitored Israeli air, land and sea attacks on the Gaza Strip, some of which targeted the city of Deir al-Balah (central), resulting in deaths and injuries, including children, who were transferred to Al-Aqsa Hospital.
Casey explained that the hospital receives, sometimes, “hundreds of victims every day in a small emergency department, which yesterday (Saturday) had one doctor working throughout the night.”
The World Health Organization official said: The hospital director spoke to us, and said that his only request is to protect the hospital, despite the departure of many of his employees and it being subjected to tremendous pressure, the only request from his director is for the international community to ensure that the hospital and other similar hospitals are protected and not exposed to bombing, and that they are not evacuated. And that its workers can continue their work.
Withdraw employees
On Saturday evening, Doctors Without Borders announced the withdrawal of its employees from the central region of the Gaza Strip, including Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, against the backdrop of increasing Israeli army attacks.
On Monday morning, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip revealed, in a brief statement on Telegram, that the hospital had received 73 martyrs and 99 wounded during the past 24 hours.
The UN report explained that the World Health Organization team delivered medical supplies to support 4,500 patients who needed dialysis for 3 months, and 500 patients who needed trauma treatment.
Casey indicated the organization’s intention to send a medical team to the hospital, saying: “We are here to deliver some supplies, but also to make the necessary arrangements to send an emergency medical team to provide support, and we hope that will be in the next week or so, to add more human resources to this hospital.” “.
Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which as of yesterday, Sunday, left 22,835 martyrs and 58,416 wounded, most of them children and women, massive infrastructure destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to Palestinian and UN sources.
