– / AFP
The World Health Organization expressed concern on Sunday, December 17, about the state of the emergency room at Al-Chifa Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip.
INTERNATIONAL – It is now “a bloodbath”. In a press release issued on Sunday, December 17, the World Health Organization expressed concern about the state of the emergency room at Al-Chifa Hospital in northern Gaza, the largest in the Palestinian enclave destroyed by Israeli bombings.
A team from WHO and other UN agencies was able to deliver medical equipment to the hospital on Saturday, where “tens of thousands of displaced people” were seeking refuge within the hospital complex. Protected, emphasizes the WHO, stating that drinking water and “food” are missing. »
Patients “sewn to the ground”
“The team (that visited the hospital, editor's note) described the emergency room as a 'bloodbath' with hundreds of injured patients and new patients arriving every minute,” the organization says, adding that ” “Patients with trauma were stitched to the floor and that the means to manage pain are very limited or non-existent.”
The hospital is functioning minimally and with a very small team and “critical patients are being transferred to Ahli Arab Hospital (in downtown Gaza, editor's note) for surgical procedures.”
The operating theaters are also no longer functional due to a lack of oxygen and the hospital itself needs, in the words of the WHO team, “revival.” » Only thirty patients can receive dialysis.
The WHO said it was ready to strengthen al-Chifa “in the coming weeks” so that it could resume its basic functions. “Up to 20 hospital operating rooms and post-operative care services can be activated if they are regularly supplied with fuel, oxygen, medicines, food and water,” emphasizes the WHO, adding that staff are also needed.
Three hospitals in northern Gaza are still operating
The entire health infrastructure in the Gaza Strip has been hit hard by Israeli army bombings and ground operations since the Hamas attack on October 7. In fact, the Israeli government accuses Hamas of using certain hospitals, which have special protection status under martial law, to hide weapons or set up command posts underground.
After more than two months of conflict and Israeli bombing, eleven hospitals in Gaza, less than a third, are still operating, a WHO official warned on December 12.
Currently, Ahli Arab is the only “partially functioning” hospital in the entire northern Gaza Strip, with three hospital structures minimally operational: al-Chifa, al-Awda and al-Sahaba. Before the war there were 24.
WHO also expressed concern about Kamal Adwan Hospital. Hamas' health ministry said on December 13 that the Israeli army had fired into patient rooms at the besieged hospital.
See also on HuffPost:
You cannot view this content because:
- By subscribing, you have opted out of cookies related to third-party content. You will therefore not be able to play our videos, which require third-party cookies to function.
- You are using an ad blocker. We recommend you disable it to access our videos.
If neither of these two cases apply to you, contact us at [email protected].