As Israeli troops advance towards the south of the strip, dramatic situations are repeated around the hospitals. After the Israeli army surrounded and stormed the main health centers in northern Gaza in the first weeks of its ground operation in the strip, these days the time has come for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the largest complex in continues operating in the center of the enclave. More than 600 patients and most of their medical staff have been forced to leave their facilities, located in the city of Deir al Balah, due to “the intensification of hostilities”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) denounced on Sunday ).
A day earlier, Doctors Without Borders staff were forced to leave the same hospital and were followed hours later by the emergency medical team from the aid group International Rescue Committee and the charity Medical Aid for the Palestinians. There are only five doctors left in the hospital, working in very precarious conditions and without food, according to WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, whose team visited the complex on Sunday. His staff saw “disgusting scenes of people of all ages being treated on blood-stained floors and chaos in the hallways,” the UN agency chief added. “The bloodbath in Gaza must end,” he demanded.
In recent days, the number of trauma patients has more than doubled compared to previous days. Gaza health authorities said Monday morning that 73 bodies and 99 wounded were taken to hospital in the last 24 hours alone. Omar al Darawi, an employee at Al Aqsa hospital, said the facility has been attacked several times in recent days. “We have a large number of wounded who cannot move,” he said. “They need special care, which is not available.” There are currently at least 4,500 dialysis patients and 500 needing trauma care, his staff reported.
Israel says it has largely concluded its operations in northern Gaza and is now focusing on the central region and the southern city of Khan Younis, with the war likely to drag on for many more months. And that the Israeli offensive continues to add Palestinian lives to the more than 23,000 that have been taken so far (with more than 58,900 injured) and continues to cause the devastation of large areas of the strip, as well as the displacement of almost 85% of Its population is 2.3 million inhabitants. Many of whom seek refuge in hospitals. Losing the Al Aqsa facilities would be another serious blow to a health system devastated by three months of war.
Due to a lack of security guarantees, the WHO was forced to cancel a mission to bring medical supplies to northern Gaza. This is the fourth time that the WHO has been forced to cancel a planned mission to deliver urgent medical supplies to the Al Awda hospital and the central medicine warehouse in the north of the strip since December 26.
“Intense shelling, restrictions on movement and disruption of communications are making the regular and safe delivery of medical supplies throughout Gaza, especially in the north, almost impossible,” the WHO office in the occupied Palestinian territories said. The delivery scheduled for Sunday was intended to maintain the operations of five hospitals in the north of the enclave. Ghebreyesus said he was “shocked by the magnitude of the health needs and devastation in northern Gaza.”