According to the WHO, the emergency room of the Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, which was completely destroyed by Israeli bombardment, is “a blood bath” and “in need of resuscitation” on Sunday.
The largest hospital in the Palestinian territory received medical supplies on Saturday from a delegation from the World Health Organization and other UN organizations.
The World Health Organization said in a statement that there is “a severe shortage” of food and drinking water, and that “tens of thousands of displaced people are using the hospital building and grounds for shelter”.
“The team described the emergency department as a ‘bloodbath’, with hundreds of injured patients inside, and new patients arriving every minute,” the organisation said, adding that “patients with trauma injuries were being sutured on the floor… (and) no pain management is available”.
The hospital is functioning at a minimal scale with very few staff and the WHo said “critical patients are being transferred to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital for surgeries”.
Operating theatres are not working due to a lack of oxygen and supplies, and according to the WHO team, it is a “hospital in need of resuscitation”.
Only 30 patients can receive dialysis daily.
All health infrastructure in the Gaza strip has been hard hit by bombardments and ground operations carried out by the Israeli army since the unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli territory.
The Israeli authorities have released numbers from the incident that show that roughly 1,140 people were murdered, most of them civilians, and 240 were taken hostage.18,800 Palestinians have died in Israel’s retaliatory onslaught in Gaza, primarily women and children, according to Hamas.
Despite repeated denials from both hospital administrators and the Palestinian militant group, Israel has accused Hamas of operating a command center beneath the hospital, which is protected under the rules of war.
The WHO promised to bolster Al-Shifa “in the coming weeks” so that it could start providing essential services again.
“Up to 20 operating theatres in the hospital, as well as post-operative care services, can be activated if provided with regular supplies of fuel, oxygen, medicines, food, and water,” the WHO said, along with the necessary staff.
Currently, Al-Ahli Arab is the only hospital “partially functioning” in the entire north of the Gaza Strip, while three hospitals — Al-Shifa, Al Awda and Al Sahaba Medical Complex — are functioning at a minimum.Before the war, there were 24 operational facilities.
The WHO has also expressed concerns about the Kamal Adwan hospital, where the Hamas health ministry said on December 13 that the Israeli army had fired on patient rooms in the besieged facility.
