The UN agency said three nurses were killed in Al-Shifa, while the WHO called for an immediate ceasefire to stop the loss of life.
Gaza’s two largest hospitals have stopped accepting new patients amid reports of rising deaths among patients and medical staff due to the Israeli bombardment and shortages of medicine and fuel.
Al-Shifa and Al-Quds, the largest and second-largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip respectively, announced on Sunday that they had suspended operations as the World Health Organization called for an immediate ceasefire to prevent rising deaths.
Dr. Nidal Abu Hadrous, a neurosurgeon at Al-Shifa Hospital, said patients and staff were facing a “catastrophic” situation with no electricity, water and no safe exit.
“This can’t take long. Urgent intervention is needed to save the staff and patients,” Abu Hadrous told Al Jazeera.
Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza also stopped operations after its main generator ran out of fuel, hospital director Ahmed al-Kahlout told Al Jazeera.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the situation at Al-Shifa Hospital was “dire and dangerous.”
“The world cannot remain silent while hospitals that should be safe havens are turned into scenes of death, devastation and despair,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X, adding that Al-Shifa “is not considered hospital functioned”. more.”
Three nurses have been killed at Al-Shifa Hospital since Friday in Israeli bombings and clashes near the complex, the UN relief agency in the occupied Palestinian territories said in its latest update on Sunday.
Twelve patients, including two premature babies, have also died since the blackouts began, while critical infrastructure, including the cardiovascular facility and maternity ward, has been severely damaged, according to the UN agency.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said three premature babies had died.
.@WHO managed to get in touch with healthcare professionals at Al-Shifa Hospital #Gaza.
The situation is dire and dangerous.
It has been three days of no power, no water and very poor internet, which has severely affected our ability to provide essentials.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 12, 2023
According to the WHO, 600-650 patients, 200-500 health workers and about 1,500 internally displaced persons remain hospitalized with no safe exit.
According to the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-ruled enclave, the patients include 36 babies who are at risk of death due to a lack of functional incubators.
Israeli forces have surrounded medical facilities in northern Gaza, including Al-Shifa Hospital, which Israeli officials said is located on the roof of a Hamas command center.
Hamas and hospital officials have denied that the complex hides any military infrastructure.
Palestinian officials and people at the hospital have reported that Israeli forces directly attacked the hospital complex with ammunition and snipers.
Health Ministry undersecretary Munir al-Boursh said snipers fired on any movement inside the compound.
“There are wounded people in the house and we can’t reach them,” he told Al Jazeera. “We can’t stick our heads out the window.”
The Israeli military said on Sunday it had offered to evacuate newborn babies and deposited 300 liters (80 gallons) of fuel at the entrance to the hospital and released a video showing its soldiers carrying containers and placing them on the ground, but that Hamas had used theirs efforts blocked.
Hamas denied refusing the fuel and said the hospital was under the control of the Gaza Strip Health Ministry.
Al-Shifa Hospital director Muhammad Abu Salmiya dismissed the Israeli statement as “propaganda.”
“Israel wants to show the world that it does not kill babies. “It wants to whitewash its image with 300 liters of fuel that barely lasts 30 minutes,” Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera.
More than half of Gaza’s 35 hospitals are no longer operational due to Israeli bombings and ground operations in the enclave launched in response to Hamas attacks on southern Israeli communities on October 7.
Israel’s campaign to eliminate Hamas has killed at least 11,078 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Health officials have not updated the death toll since Friday, citing the collapse of services and communications at hospitals in the enclave.