A fire department ambulance arrives at the entrance to the emergency room of the Indonezi Hospital, so called because it was built with the support of Indonesian funds, in the north of the Gaza Strip. A man who was until recently buried under the rubble of his home in the Mashrua district of nearby Beit Lahya, which had just been bombed by Israel, has been recovered. He still can’t believe he miraculously stayed alive. But he breaks down in tears because he could not save his brother, who remained behind under the stones of the former House of Othman. In the garden surrounding the hospital there is a crowd of people, some on the benches, others lying on the grass, eager to know the condition of their newly hospitalized relatives.
The besieged Gaza Strip is experiencing days of darkness and despair. Health services warn that they are on the verge of collapse and that they do not have the resources to help the thousands of wounded who have been streaming into Gaza’s medical centers since Saturday. The medical staff is at the end of its strength. The lack of diesel and interruptions in the power supply, which now only comes from generators, are making the situation worse. Yesterday, Hamas called for the opening of a humanitarian corridor to bring urgent humanitarian aid from Egypt. So far everything has remained closed. 500 meters away there is a second private hospital called al-Awda. Your director, Dr. Ahmed Muhanna, explains that he declared a state of emergency on Saturday with the start of hostilities and the first expulsions of the population from the areas closest to Israeli territory. All medical staff were recalled and the less seriously ill patients were discharged. The hospital with only 80 beds had to treat 450 wounded people. Others were sent elsewhere. “We asked for 10,000 liters of diesel,” he says, “but we only received 3,000. If all goes well, they’ll only last for five days. Our generators run 24 hours a day. We also lack oxygen. This is what we do “go through unspeakable difficulties” .
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is about to spiral out of control,” warned the International Red Cross. In a press conference in Geneva, regional director Fabrizio Carbone – quoted by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa – noted that the ongoing bombings do not allow his organization to distribute the reserves of necessary materials. Among these he mentioned diesel for power generators and chlorine for water supply. “The security conditions – he added – do not allow us to move freely. Since the beginning of this round of hostilities – he specified – five Red Cross and Red Crescent medics have been killed.”
The Red Cross also believes it is necessary to set up a humanitarian corridor as quickly as possible to bring medicine and fuel to Gaza, as the United Nations hopes.
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