According to the World Health Organization, Gaza’s main hospital is no longer functioning. They warned of a “dire and perilous” situation for hundreds of patients and displaced people who are trapped inside as Israeli troops engage in battle with Hamas fighters nearby.
The head nurse and the Gazan Health Ministry stated that dozens of corpses are decomposing at Al-Shifa hospital because there is no way to preserve or remove them.
For weeks, the hospital and other medical centers in Gaza City have been struggling to maintain operations due to dwindling supplies of fuel and medicine. The health ministry of Gaza, controlled by Hamas, reported that Israeli military vehicles have advanced to the hospital complex gates.
Doctors and Gazan health officials confirmed that patients at Al-Shifa are dying due to a lack of power. Jihan Miqdad, a head nurse in the emergency room, stated in a phone interview that patients on life support in the intensive care unit are dying because there is no oxygen.
She described the situation as “catastrophic in every sense of the word.”
The World Health Organization reported that Al-Shifa’s ability to provide care has been severely hindered by three days without electricity, water, and poor internet. Constant gunfire and bombings in the area have increased patient deaths significantly.
The agency’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated, “Regrettably, the hospital is not functioning as a hospital anymore.”
The Gaza health ministry confirmed that at least six wounded patients, including two premature babies, died at the hospital on Saturday due to a power outage. Without fuel for generators, the hospital has been left in darkness.
Israeli security officials claim that Hamas has constructed a command complex beneath the hospital, making it a legitimate military target. Hamas and Al-Shifa’s director, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, deny these allegations.
Dr. Medhat Abbas, a spokesman for the Gazan health ministry, stated in a phone interview that over 100 bodies are lying in the hospital’s front yard, around 50 inside, and approximately 60 in the morgue.
He expressed concern that the corpses are starting to decompose, which poses an epidemiological risk and causes a foul smell to spread throughout the hospital.
Dr. Abbas also mentioned that staff members and the 8,000 displaced people sheltering at the hospital are suffering from thirst and hunger. Medical teams are surviving on biscuits and dates.
According to Israeli military officials, in recent days, Israeli soldiers have surrounded at least one other hospital in northern Gaza, intensifying their efforts to evacuate the facilities as the fighting escalates.