Gaza City — As bombs rain down on Gaza’s neighborhoods and refugee camps, hundreds of Palestinian families temporarily settle in an unlikely place: the common areas of hospitals.
Tents are popping up in hospital hallways, parking lots and courtyards, as families seek safety in and around medical facilities – places that should be protected under international humanitarian law.
It’s just the latest sign of the new reality as the war between Israel and Hamas reaches its 29th day on Saturday, with growing fears of shortages of medical supplies and explosions disrupting vital health services deployed in hospitals and clinics.
With only fabric walls for privacy, families inside the tents go about their daily lives, sleeping, eating and trying to restore a sense of normalcy.
These tents began appearing just days after the war broke out on October 7. Not only do they serve as temporary shelter for those fleeing death and destruction in residential areas, but some also serve as makeshift medical offices and emergency rooms as the Palestinian death toll rises. past 9,000.
Women and children make up the vast majority of hospital residents. Private life is a distant memory and the challenges of life in a hospital are numerous. Food, drinking water and toilets are severely rationed and available only sporadically: once or twice a day.
A family of seven sheltering in a tent spoke anonymously to Al Jazeera about their difficulties. They mentioned that they lacked protection from nearby bombardments and the debris they kicked up, as well as from the bitter cold of the night.
“Overnight, after having everything, we have nothing left,” one of the family members said.
Families like theirs also face increased risks of infection and contact with toxic chemicals, as medical care continues in other nearby tents.
A lack of medical equipment
Health facilities in Gaza have reported shortages of medical supplies. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the shortage has become a serious problem for both medical staff and patients, leading to a rapid deterioration in the quality of health care.
The shortage of anesthesia has become stark at Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest health facility, established in 1946. Doctors there are reportedly forced to operate on patients without drugs to dull their pain, causing them agony indescribable.
Intensive care units, meanwhile, have too few beds to accommodate the hundreds of seriously injured patients. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, places available for such cases have been exhausted since mid-October.
The Indonesian hospital, which serves more than 150,000 residents in northern Gaza, is set to cease operations, alarming health officials.
Al-Shifa Hospital is also on the verge of completely closing its doors. The hospital, which provides essential health services in central Gaza, may soon be unable to admit more patients or treat injuries.
With only 546 beds, it now treats more than 1,000 injured people. The hospital even resorted to performing surgeries in its courtyards, using the sun to light medical procedures due to lack of electricity and fuel.
“The hospital should fall completely into darkness within a few hours,” Achraf al-Qudra, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, warned on Wednesday.
Between 50,000 and 60,000 additional people took refuge in the hospital courtyards.
Al-Qudra said Gaza’s health sector would face disaster if fuel and medical supplies did not reach the besieged enclave. He called on Egypt to facilitate the urgent delivery of medical aid to Gaza.
On October 21, 20 trucks carrying medical supplies and other necessary goods entered Gaza from Egypt for the first time, triggering the flow of humanitarian aid.
But aid has been slow to arrive, in part because of ongoing Israeli bombardment in the border area.
The Palestinian Health Ministry also said that international aid allocated to Gaza’s health sector barely covers its essential operations and falls far short of meeting its most urgent needs.
Health facilities faced with bomb explosions
Attacks on or near medical facilities and medical personnel have also dealt a major blow to Gaza’s health system since the start of the war.
Palestinian officials blamed Israeli airstrikes for the explosions at several health centers, including the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in the south and the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza City, leading to injuries. hundreds of deaths.
The Israeli military also admitted to hitting ambulances, saying one of the vehicles in a medical convoy on Friday was “used by a Hamas terrorist cell.” Al-Qudra said “a large number” of health workers were killed in the explosion.
An estimated 25 ambulances have been hit and 136 health workers killed since the start of the war.
The Ministry of Health and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) called for medical facilities and first responders to be protected from violence, in accordance with international law.
Article 18 of the Geneva Convention specifies that civilian hospitals must “under no circumstances be the subject of attacks”. Medical transport is also protected by humanitarian law.
Nevertheless, medical institutions in Gaza continued to face shooting. On October 29, the PRCS said it received notification from Israeli forces asking it to evacuate Al-Quds Hospital in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, ahead of a planned bombing there.
The hospital housed hundreds of patients and around 12,000 displaced Palestinians.
The government media office in Gaza and the Health Ministry called the attacks “war crimes,” calling for accountability.
Exhaustion among health workers
Continued violence has also increased concerns about the mental and physical well-being of healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, administrative staff and rescue teams.
Working around the clock, some face extreme exhaustion. Others experience psychological fatigue from dealing with horrific injuries or frustration from lack of resources.
“Before the war, we were responsible for relieving the stress and trauma of the sick and wounded, but now we are the ones who need an outlet for our exhausted bodies and minds,” said nurse Huda Shokry from the Al-Daraj Medical Complex.
Still, Dr. Ahmed Ghoul, emergency supervisor at Al-Daraj, told Al Jazeera that the professionals he works with are dedicated to caring for their patients.
“Despite lacking almost everything necessary to do our jobs effectively, we do not leave our rooms, day or night, except for quick bathroom breaks,” he said.
“We have lost track of the days of the week because we are more concerned about the thousands of injured than the weather. »
Doctors like Ghoul don’t have a place to sleep even if they could. Their personal rooms have been converted into patient treatment areas and their beds are used for surgery and emergency care.
Hospital kitchens, meanwhile, have mostly stopped functioning. They do not have the basic resources needed to prepare meals for staff or patients.
“We are tired of what we have seen,” Shokry told Al Jazeera. “Being a doctor during the war in Gaza means losing the feeling of fear and exhaustion. »
“It is impossible to maintain a normal psyche or even emotions.”
