The team, consisting of public health experts, logistics officers, and security staff from various UN agencies, described the hospital as a “death zone” and the overall situation as “desperate.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the situation at the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as a “death zone”, a day after the forced evacuation ordered by the Israeli army, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
On Saturday morning, the invading Israeli military forced most of the patients, wounded, and medical staff out of the medical complex, demanding they walk on foot to the south of the Gaza Strip.
A joint United Nations humanitarian assessment team, led by WHO, accessed Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on Saturday to evaluate the dire situation within the facility.
At least 31 Palestinians were killed when Israel targeted Palestinian homes in the central Gaza Strip overnight. Two others were killed in Khan Yunis and four premature babies were also declared dead in the Al-Shifa Hospital. https://t.co/JXkQLwIAUt pic.twitter.com/KpbDzbwZpl
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) November 19, 2023
The team, consisting of public health experts, logistics officers, and security staff from various UN agencies, described the hospital as a “death zone” and the overall situation as “desperate.”
Limited by time constraints due to the security situation, the team could only spend one hour inside the hospital, where they witnessed signs of Israeli shelling and gunfire. Shockingly, a mass grave at the hospital’s entrance was found, with reports indicating that over 80 people had been buried there.
Currently, 25 health workers and 291 patients remain in Al-Shifa. Several patients died before the forced evacuation due to the shutdown of medical services as a result of the Israeli military siege.
Critical cases include two people in intensive care without ventilation and 22 dialysis patients whose access to life-saving treatment is severely compromised.
31 premature babies were evacuated to Rafah on Sunday.
31 premature babies in Al-Shifa Hospital arrived at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
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— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) November 19, 2023
The majority of patients suffer from war trauma, said WHO, including many with complex fractures, amputations, head injuries, burns, chest, and abdominal injuries.
29 patients with serious spinal injuries require medical assistance for movement. Many trauma patients have infected wounds due to a lack of infection control measures and unavailable antibiotics.
WHO expressed deep concern about the safety and health needs of patients, health workers, and internally displaced people at the remaining partially functional hospitals in the north.
WHO reiterated its plea for collective efforts to end the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire, sustained humanitarian assistance, unhindered access and cessation of attacks on vital infrastructure.
(WAFA, PC)
