This Is the State of Gaza’s Hospitals – Special Report

Abdallah Aljamal. Orinoco Tribune, March 6, 2024 —

In its genocidal war against the Gaza Strip, Israel has systematically and relentlessly attacked Gaza’s healthcare workers and infrastructure.

Due to the complete Israeli siege imposed on the enclave, hospitals do not have access to fuel, medicine, and medical equipment.

The Director-General of the Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Al-Thawabta, confirmed that 30 hospitals out of 34 hospitals have completely ceased operations in the Gaza Strip due to Israeli airstrikes and the army’s raids on hospitals, which were converted into Israeli military barracks.

‘Only Five Hospitals are Operational’

In a statement, al-Thawabta said that there are currently “only five hospitals are operational in the Gaza Strip, namely the Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah City, the Kuwaiti Specialized Hospital in Rafah City, the European Hospital in eastern Khan Yunis City, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah City in central Gaza, and the very small Al-Awda Specialized Hospital in Nuseirat Camp in the central Gaza Strip.”

Al-Thawabta explained that the Kuwaiti Specialized Hospital “is a small hospital with very limited capacity,” while the vicinity of the European Hospital is “continuously subjected to Israeli shelling”.

Mohammed Ahmed, media representative at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, explained that the medical facility is “the only government hospital currently operating in the central governorate of the Gaza Strip.”

Before the war, the hospital used to provide medical services “to over 250,000 residents while now, it serves over half a million residents of the governorate and those who have been displaced to the central Gaza Strip due to the Israeli war,” Ahmed said.

In the Nuseirat refugee camp, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital had added a small specialized clinic shortly before the war.

“It is a very small hospital that can only provide first aid and ambulance services and transfer critical cases from the wounded to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. However, the hospital has provided a great service to the residents of Nuseirat and the displaced people, providing ambulance services around the clock,” Ahmed explained.

Ahmed also said that there is “a severe shortage of all medical equipment and a severe shortage of fuel designated to operate electrical generators and ambulance vehicles. Additionally, the hospital’s capacity is much lower than the large number of injured and martyrs who arrive daily.”

Ahmed called on the international community for urgent intervention to deliver medical aid to Gaza hospitals, transfer critical cases outside the Strip for treatment, and work on saving the remaining hospitals in Gaza from complete shutdown.

‘I Haven’t Seen My Family since October 7’

Sami Awad is a healthcare worker in Gaza. In the beginning of the war, he worked at the  Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis City in the southern Gaza Strip, but after the invasion of Khan Yunis by Israeli occupation forces he moved to the European Hospital in the eastern part of the city.

“Since the beginning of the war, I have not seen my family and have not left the hospital,” Awad told The Palestine Chronicle.

“We work with the medical staff in Gaza hospitals with minimal resources, and we exert all our efforts to save the wounded,” he said.

“However, the wounded we receive are in very critical condition, and we have lost many patients due to the lack of medical supplies and the absence of specialized doctors to treat them,” Awad continued.

“We fear that medical services at the European Hospital will be suspended as they were at Nasser Complex and Shifa Complex, among others,” he explained.

“The health situation in the Gaza Strip is extremely dangerous, and the international community must urgently intervene to save the lives of thousands of wounded in Gaza.”