The medical facility called on WHO to ensure the provision of life-saving commodities to maintain operations in the hospital.
Al-Awda Hospital’s Director, Mohammad Saleha, warned on Wednesday that the medical facility is grappling to offer care to patients in critical conditions amidst an acute shortage in medical supplies and over a month-old Israeli aggression in the north of Gaza Strip.
In an interview with Anadolu’s news agency, Saleha said that Al-Awda Hospital has been facing “a critical shortage of medicines and medical supplies for more than three months, compounded by a fuel supply cut that has hindered the facility’s operations for a month.”
According to Anadolu, the hospital’s small generator, which was feeding Al-Awda Hospital with minimal operational support halted on Wednesday morning due to a shortage of fuel.
“We were forced to use the main generator, which consumes more fuel, but it was necessary to conduct four surgeries for critically injured patients,” Saleha told the news agency.
He added that the medical facility has received “several deceased and dozens of injured since morning, including critical cases, as ambulance services in the area have halted.”
A video showing Palestine Red Crescent Society teams evacuating 21 patients last Friday from Al-Awda and Indonesian Hospitals in northern #Gaza to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. This operation was coordinated and facilitated with the support of the International Committee of the… pic.twitter.com/MiVIhnlBsE
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 3, 2024
The Director of Al-Awda Hospital slammed Israel’s targeting of ambulances of the medical facility along with those of Kamal Adwan Hospital and the civil defense units, which resulted in an acute shortage of life-saving vehicles.
“This deliberate targeting of ambulances and crews has forced civilians to transport the wounded to hospitals on foot, by shoulder, or using makeshift carts—endangering lives due to delayed medical care,” he stressed.
Saleha spoke to Anadolu about the dire medical conditions under which the medical staff work especially in the north of the Strip.
He revealed that the sole surgeon in the north of Gaza has already performed two surgeries since Wednesday morning and continues to operate on other critical cases.
The director of the medical facility urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to come to their rescue by providing life-saving commodities such as fuel, medicine, medical supplies, and food for patients and staff alike.
He stressed that the provision of these essential commodities is pivotal to ensure the sustainability of medical services in the north during the genocidal war Israel is carrying in Gaza.
Footage from Al-Awda Hospital’s morgue…
Palestinian journalist Hani Abu Rezeq reports: Israeli attacks targeting families in Nuseirat and Deir Balah have claimed the lives of 21 Palestinian civilians, including children and women. pic.twitter.com/rVRXvPZwnY
— Gaza Notifications (@gazanotice) October 31, 2024
Israel’s Attacks on Hospitals
This is not the first time the hospital has issued a distress call amidst Israel’s relentless and ongoing attacks on medical facilities in the north of the enclave.
On October 22, the Al-Awda Hospital announced that it exhausted all the medical supplies and food, while fuel supplies are also close to exhaustion due to the enduring siege by the Israeli occupation forces in the north of Gaza, Anadolu news agency reported.
“We are living under a complete siege, as the Israeli occupation has tightened its grip on the hospital since Monday,” the director of the medical facility, Dr. Mohamed Saleha told Anadolu.
“Medical staff are unable to move or receive any external support,” he added.
Dr. Saleha warned of a “genuine catastrophe” if these essential commodities are not urgently delivered within the coming days.
In regard to the security situation surrounding the hospital, Dr. Saleha told Anadolu that the medical facility is under constant attack by the Israeli occupation forces, which makes it impossible for injured people to reach the medical facility or for anyone to leave.
Israeli Army Bombs House in Nuseirat Camp: 4 Palestinian Civilians, Including 3 Children, Killed
In central Gaza’s Nuseirat, an Israeli strike targeting the home of Ahmed Nofal ‘Abu Khalid’ near Al-Awda Hospital resulted in the deaths of 4 Palestinian civilians, including 3… pic.twitter.com/5KhMiZLLZO
— Gaza Notifications (@gazanotice) November 1, 2024
‘Catastrophic’ Health Situation
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom described on October 26 the health situation in the north of Gaza as “catastrophic” due to the ongoing Israeli military operations around and inside medical facilities.
Adhanom noted in a post on X that the siege of the medical facilities and the “critical shortage of medical supplies” along with “severely limited access” to these medical facilities are the core of this catastrophic situation, which is depriving people of “life-saving care.”
He revealed that the Health Ministry in Gaza informed the international organization that the siege on Kamal Adwan Hospital had ended, “but it came at a heavy cost.”
“Following the detention of 44 male staff members, only female staff, the hospital director, and one male doctor are left to care for nearly 200 patients in desperate need of medical attention,” he wrote on X.
Moreover, he slammed Israel for targeting the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip during the over one-year-old genocide, stressing the need to protect medical facilities and staff.
“The only path to safeguarding what remains of Gaza’s collapsing health care system is an immediate and unconditional ceasefire,” Adhanom said.
The bombing by Israeli warplanes is ongoing and we will go to a large number of people in the new camp and in the land of the Mufti north of the Nuseirat camp in the center of the Strip and the transter of a number of injuries to Al-Awda Hospital. pic.twitter.com/LtjO18cBsA
— abdallah alattar (@abdalahalatar11) November 1, 2024
Death Toll on the Rise
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,391 Palestinians have been killed, and 102,347 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, Anadolu)
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