“Horrible conditions”
WHO: More than 2,000 people are waiting in the Shifa clinic
November 13, 2023, 8:22 a.m
The largest hospital in the Gaza Strip is said to no longer be functional. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes the situation as devastating. The number of deaths among patients is increasing significantly. Children and babies are particularly at risk.
The World Health Organization has once again complained about “appalling conditions” in the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. There are more than 2,000 people in the Shifa clinic, including probably more than 600 patients and around 1,500 displaced people, the WHO wrote on the platform X (formerly Twitter), citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which is controlled by the radical Islamic Hamas. Accordingly, patients could no longer receive dialysis, among other things. Premature babies were also transferred to operating rooms without incubators.
The WHO had previously denounced the situation in the clinic complex with around 700 beds. Because of the fighting in the immediate vicinity and a lack of fuel, medical care is hardly possible anymore. Dozens of children are in critical condition and could die at any moment, the WHO warned.
According to its Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO was able to re-establish contact with staff at the clinic in Gaza City. But the situation is devastating and dangerous. The constant shelling and bombing in the region had made the already critical conditions even worse. The number of deaths among patients has increased significantly. The clinic no longer functions as a hospital.
Shifa doctor accuses Israel of lying
Meanwhile, a senior doctor denied to the British broadcaster BBC that there were Hamas fighters in the clinic. Israel’s allegations are “a big lie,” said chief surgeon Marwan Abu Saada. “We have medical staff, we have patients and displaced people. Nothing else.” The Israeli military had previously said that Hamas – which uses an extensive network of tunnels under the coastal area for its own purposes – had a command center under the clinic and was also misusing other medical facilities in the Gaza Strip for military purposes.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the US had urged Israel to avoid fighting near hospitals in the Gaza Strip. “The United States does not want battles in hospitals where innocent people and patients receiving medical care are caught in the crossfire,” Sullivan told CBS on Sunday.
Hospitals and civilians as “human shields”
According to Palestinian information, the two largest hospitals in the coastal area controlled by the radical Islamic Hamas had to shut down operations. According to the UN, half of the hospitals in Gaza are now closed. Employees warned that babies in particular were at risk because of Israeli bombings and a lack of fuel and medicine. According to a representative of the Hamas government, five premature babies and seven seriously ill patients have now died in the clinic.
Witnesses said there was “heavy fighting” around Al-Shifa Hospital. The Health Ministry said the clinic was “besieged” by Israeli tanks. The European Union accused Hamas of using hospitals and civilians in the Gaza Strip as “human shields.” In a statement issued by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on behalf of the EU, Israel was also called on to exercise “the greatest possible restraint” in order to protect the lives of civilians.
Mutual blame
The clinic complex has been under repeated attack for days; according to Abu Risch, the cardiology department was “completely” destroyed in an Israeli attack. The aid organization Doctors Without Borders also described the situation in the clinic as “catastrophic”.
Hamas, meanwhile, rejected Israel’s accusations that it rejected 300 liters of fuel that was said to have been destined for Al-Shifa Hospital. At the same time, the Islamists criticize that the crowd is not even enough to run the hospital’s generators for more than thirty minutes. The offer trivializes the pain and suffering of the patients who are stuck in the clinic without water, food or electricity.
The Israeli military said it had dumped 300 liters of fuel outside the entrance to the hospital on Saturday night and offered to evacuate newborn babies. Both gestures were blocked by Hamas. The information provided by both sides could not be independently verified.