The severe humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza, specifically at Al-Shifa Hospital, described in detail by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday. This was after a joint UN humanitarian assessment team risked their lives to enter the hospital and assess the dire situation in the midst of Israeli airstrikes in the Hamas-controlled strip.
The WHO reports that the operation, which carried out in tandem with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to provide a secure path, carried out in the midst of intense fighting near the hospital. The team, which included of public health specialists, logistics officers, and security personnel from OCHA, UNDSS, UNMAS/UNOPS, UNRWA, and WHO, called the situation “desperate” and the hospital a “death zone” during their hour-long trip inside the facility.
There were clear indications of gunfire and shelling. According to the WHO statement, the team noticed a mass grave near the hospital’s entrance and informed that more than 80 victims interred there. Al-Shifa, which formerly Gaza’s biggest and most sophisticated referral hospital, has severely damaged by a lack of fuel, clean water, medications, and food, according to the WHO.
The hospital now refers the ill and injured to the overcrowded Indonesian Hospital as it is unable to accept any more patients. According to the UN health agency, there are now 25 medical personnel and 291 patients at Al-Shifa, including 32 infants in critical condition, 2 people in intensive care without ventilation, and 22 dialysis patients with limited access to life-saving care. “WHO and partners are urgently developing plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families,” it said.
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