Hundreds Of Patients Remain Inside Gaza Hospital Amid Fighting
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Thousands of people appear to have fled from Gaza’s largest hospital as Israeli forces and Palestinian militants battle outside its gates, but hundreds of patients, including dozens of babies at risk of dying because of a lack of electricity, remained inside, health officials said Monday.
The Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip has been under siege as Israeli forces and Palestinian militants battle outside its gates. Thousands of people have fled, but hundreds of patients remain inside, including dozens of babies at risk of dying due to a lack of electricity.
The hospital, which has been without water for three days, is not functioning as a hospital anymore, according to World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. With only intermittent communications, it was difficult to reconcile competing claims from the Israeli military, which said it was providing a safe corridor for people to move, and Palestinian health officials inside the hospital, who said the compound was surrounded by heavy gunfire.
Both sides have seized on the hospital’s plight as a symbol of the larger war, now in its sixth week. The fighting was triggered by Hamas’ unprecedented Oct. 7 surprise attack into Israel, and Israel’s response has brought unseen levels of death and destruction to Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinian residents, nearly two-thirds of whom have had to flee their homes with no safe refuge available in the besieged territory.
For Palestinians, Shifa evokes the suffering of civilians. Doctors running low on supplies perform surgery on war-wounded patients, including children, without anesthesia. Thousands of people displaced by airstrikes have sought shelter in its darkened corridors.
According to Mohammed Zaqout, the director of hospitals in Gaza, there are about 650 patients and critically wounded people in Shifa being treated by around 500 medical staff. He estimated that around 2,500 displaced Palestinians are sheltering inside hospital buildings.
The situation at the hospital is dire, with 20 patients, including three babies, dying since the hospital’s emergency generator ran out of fuel on Saturday. Another 36 babies and other patients are at risk of dying because there is no way to power life-saving medical equipment.
It’s unclear where the remaining patients could go, as several hospitals and clinics in Gaza have been forced to shut down, while others are already working at full capacity with dwindling supplies.
The U.S. has pushed for temporary pauses that would allow for wider distribution of badly needed aid to civilians in the territory, where conditions are increasingly dire. But Israel has only agreed to brief daily periods during which civilians can flee ground combat in northern Gaza and head south on foot along two main roads. Israel continues to strike what it says are militant targets across southern Gaza, often killing women and children.
The conflict has resulted in more than 11,000 Palestinians being killed, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. Israel has reported at least 1,200 people killed, mostly civilians, and reports that nearly 240 hostages are being held by Palestinian militants.
The situation at Shifa hospital is emblematic of the wider suffering of civilians in Gaza amid the ongoing conflict, with no clear end in sight.