UN warns bombing, infections pushing Gaza hospitals to extremes

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
13 Dec 2023 12:52
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Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continue to besiege Al-Awda Hospital, as reported by OCHA, impacting healthcare services in the war-torn Strip.

Palestinian patients and forcibly displaced people at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on November 10 amid the brutal Israeli aggression (AFP)

A report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stressed that the available services for patients in operational hospitals are "limited" due to a lack of bed capacity.

“The two major hospitals in southern Gaza are operating at three times above their bed capacity while facing critical shortages of basic supplies and fuel,” the report said. “Only one of these hospitals is in the north.”

“[Bed] occupancy rates are now reaching 206 percent in inpatient departments and 250 percent in intensive care units. Additionally, these hospitals are providing shelter to thousands of displaced people,” it added, citing information from the Gaza Ministry of Health.

Earlier today, an MSF surgeon was injured inside Al-Awda hospital in north Gaza by a shot fired from outside the facility. Our colleagues report snipers surrounding the hospital, firing on those inside. Al-Awda has been under total siege by Israeli forces since December 5.…
— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) December 11, 2023

“Let us be clear: Al-Awda is a functioning hospital with medical staff and many patients in vulnerable conditions. Targeting medical workers as they care for their patients is utterly reprehensible, utterly inhumane,” Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) posted on X.

In a related development, Al Mayadeen's correspondent in northern Gaza reported today that the occupation forces continue to besiege the hospitals of Al-Awda and Al Yemen Assaeed, as well as UNRWA clinics.

In other parts of its report, OCHA expressed worries about the fast dissemination of infectious diseases in the Gaza Strip caused by the "overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions" in UNRWA shelters.

“There have been significant increases in some communicable diseases and conditions such as diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, skin infections, and hygiene-related conditions like lice,” the report said.

War on hospitals ongoing

Israeli occupation forces have detained the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Ahmad al-Kahlout, along with 70 medical personnel, and took them to an undisclosed location, the Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed on Tuesday.

Moreover, Israeli occupation forces shelled the vicinity of the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis city, which has been receiving wounded and martyred Palestinians nonstop throughout the day.

For a few days now, Israeli snipers have taken over the buildings surrounding Kamal Adwan Hospital and have been continuously shooting toward its courtyards and into patients' rooms. Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli occupation forces raided the hospital and locked down thousands of patients, and medical personnel and displaced Palestinians inside. According to the Health Ministry, medical teams, including female staff, were interrogated under threat in the emergency department.

The spokesperson for the ministry, Ashraf al-Qudra, revealed earlier that the Israeli occupation had deliberately targeted 137 facilities, rendering 22 hospitals and 46 primary care centers inoperable.

Al Awda Hospital in north Gaza is under siege by Israeli forces. Snipers are killing people who dare to move, including a woman who was accompanying her pregnant sister in law trying to get to the hospital to deliver. They’ve even bombed water tanks. pic.twitter.com/EoKHV5MGkt
— Dena Takruri (@Dena) December 9, 2023

Health crisis in Gaza worsens as only 11 hospitals remain functional

Representative of the World Health Organization in the occupied Palestinian territory Richard Peeperkorn reported on Tuesday that more than two-thirds of the 36 hospitals and over 70% of primary healthcare facilities in Gaza are currently non-operational.

"In just 66 days, the health system has gone from 36 functional hospitals to 11 partially functional hospitals — one in the north and 10 in the south … Besides that, just 29% of primary healthcare facilities are functional," Peeperkorn told a UN briefing in Geneva.

As of Monday, thirteen out of the 36 hospitals were still operational, as per the latest update from the World Health Organization on the war in Gaza. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus characterized the state of healthcare in Gaza on Tuesday as "on its knees and collapsing," cautioning that the humanitarian crisis would escalate with the approaching winter.

In its latest update, the Ministry stated that the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation in Gaza has surpassed 18,500, while the injured count has risen above 50,000, as the ongoing brutal Israeli war on the Strip nears its 10th week.