Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza is out of service, situation is dire: WHO
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Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, states that "the world cannot stand silent while hospitals, which should be safe havens, are transformed into scenes of death, devastation, and despair."
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WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during the opening of the World Health Organisation Academy in Lyon, central France, Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. (AP)
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Sunday that Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza "is not functioning as a hospital anymore."
Ghebreyesus said, "The world cannot stand silent while hospitals, which should be safe havens, are transformed into scenes of death, devastation, and despair."
.@WHO has managed to get in touch with health professionals at the Al-Shifa hospital in #Gaza.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 12, 2023
The situation is dire and perilous.
It's been 3 days without electricity, without water and with very poor internet which has severely impacted our ability to provide essential…
Ghebreyesus pointed out that the organization has managed to contact health professionals at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, stressing that "the situation is dire and perilous".
He pointed out that for three days, the hospital was without electricity, water, and very poor internet, "which has severely impacted our ability to provide essential care".
"The constant gunfire and bombings in the area have exacerbated the already critical circumstances," he added.
Two days ago, "Israel" bombed the al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza with internationally prohibited White Phosphorus, Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila confirmed on Saturday.
The Minister also revealed that 39 children and infants who were administered to the intensive care unit are threatened with death in Al-Shifa Hospital as their oxygen supply is close to running out.
Al-Kaila stressed that "patients in al-Shifa Complex are threatened with imminent death."
Al-Quds Hospital, located in the northern part of Gaza City, is almost completely out of service, as its intensive care unit is the only functional section in the hospital and it is also "threatened to stop [operating] within the [next few] hours," the Palestinian Health Minister explained.
She also revealed that "20 out of 30 hospitals in [in the Gaza Strip] are completely inoperational."
The official highlighted the illegal bombing of hospitals in the Gaza Strip in "plain sight", saying that the circumstances that Gaza's health sector is facing have "never occurred in history."
