2023-11-12 12:10:33
Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City is in an extremely difficult situation. Above the Israeli siege imposed on it, it is subjected to repeated bombardment, and inside, patients are dying as a result of running out of fuel and medicine.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Sunday that a second infant died in Al-Shifa Medical Complex, the largest in the besieged Strip, after the electrical generator in the complex stopped, which was practically out of service.
An infant died in the intensive care unit on Saturday because the oxygen station stopped working and the children were discontinued from life support equipment.
With these two deaths, 37 premature newborns who require intensive care remain at risk of death.
Because it ran out of fuel, the hospital stopped performing surgeries.
Health facilities in Gaza are being restricted by Israel
Repeated Israeli bombing
The tragedies in Al-Shifa do not stop when fuel runs out and medical equipment malfunctions, as testimonies from inside the hospital say that it was bombed 5 times by Israeli forces, who do not stop targeting it.
The most recent bombing on the hospital resulted in the killing of one person and the injury of other displaced people who took refuge in the hospital, specifically in the maternity building in the complex.
A previous bombing targeted the intensive care unit, killing a patient who was there.
A doctor at Al-Shifa Hospital told Archyde.com that the bombing has been continuing for more than 24 hours.
He added that most of the hospital workers and people who took refuge there had left, but 500 patients remained.
Destruction of the cardiac department building
An official in the Hamas Ministry of Health confirmed on Sunday that an Israeli raid destroyed the cardiology department building at the Shifa Medical Complex in northern Gaza, as fighting intensified around the Strip’s hospitals.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Yousef Abu Al-Rish, told Agence France-Presse: “The occupation completely destroyed the heart department building at Al-Shifa Hospital.”
Hospital under siege
Ashraf Al-Qudra, spokesman for the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, said Israeli snipers on rooftops fired on the medical complex from time to time, limiting people’s ability to move.
He told Archyde.com: “We are besieged inside the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, and the (Israeli) occupation is targeting most of the buildings inside it.”
The Israeli army denies
The Israeli army, in turn, says that clashes occurred in the vicinity of the hospital, but added, “There is no shooting in the hospital and there is no siege.”
Israel has said that doctors, patients and thousands of evacuees who have taken refuge in hospitals in northern Gaza must leave so that it can deal with Hamas militants who it says have set up command centers under and around these hospitals.
A Norwegian doctor makes an appeal
The Norwegian doctor, Mads Gilbert, who worked for years at the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, sent an appeal to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres.
He said to him: “I ask you to please do something now (..), break the siege imposed on Gaza,” asking him to establish an air bridge to Gaza, carrying necessary and life-saving materials.
He stressed that Al-Shifa Hospital is currently besieged and exposed to attacks by the Israeli army.
The death of a child in “Al-Rantisi”
The situation is not much different at Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital, where a child died after services stopped.
The hospital director, Mustafa, said that Israeli forces are besieging the hospital, exposing the lives of thousands of patients, medical staff, and displaced people to certain death due to hunger, thirst, and direct bombardment.
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