2023-10-19 04:13:48
“In the operating room, there are sometimes three victims at the same time. The injured are mostly dismembered or amputated. There are bodies all over the corridors because the morgue refrigerators can no longer hold them all.” These words from Doctor Haidar, anesthetist-resuscitator at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younès, south of Gaza, echo a nursing staff exhausted of strength.
Beds, painkillers, syringes: the Gazan health system lacks everything. “Their basic stocks and fuel are running out quickly,” adds Juliette Touma, spokesperson for UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East). Consequence: patients pile up in the corridors without being able to be treated.
“Bed capacity is limited. The two main hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, the Indonesian Hospital and Al-Shifa Hospital, have already exceeded their combined capacity of 760 beds,” laments Tarik Jasarevic, spokesperson for the World Health Organization. . “The health system is on the verge of collapse” according to Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the UN. The morgues are overflowing. Ice trucks had to be used to store the bodies.
Ambulances and caregivers targeted
In addition to shortages, the health system is directly affected by Israeli strikes. More than 60 ambulances have been targeted by the IDF and more than 30 health workers have been killed since the start of the conflict. “We are firefighters, we have no weapons and we do not coordinate our actions with anyone. We are civilians. We are people who put out fires and rescue the injured. », exclaims a Gazan rescuer. Several hospitals stopped functioning after being bombed. Due to a lack of fuel, the generators used will soon no longer be enough.
Faced with this catastrophic situation, NGOs have been calling for several days to unblock a humanitarian corridor to supply the Gaza Strip. On Wednesday October 18, the Hebrew State announced that it was authorizing the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave from Egypt. The day before, the deadly bombing of Al-Alhi hospital accelerated the already unbearable pressure weighing on the Gazan hospital system.
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