More than 70 percent stopped working. medical facilities in the Gaza Strip. 18 out of 35 hospitals are also not functioning, and those that remain open can provide very limited istance and are slowly closing their departments – CNN reported on Thursday, citing the Ministry of Health in Ramallah.
Those medical facilities that were not bombed cannot operate due to lack of fuel. There is still no agreement between aid agencies and the Israeli side regarding the entry of fuel supplies into the Zone, even though the lack of fuel has already forced medical facilities and humanitarian organizations to drastically limit their operations. Most hospitals in the Zone have been paralyzed by the lack of fuel, which prevents the operation of power generators.
A surgeon at Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in Gaza City, Ahmed Mochallalati, told Al-Jazeera that part of the facility was in darkness because only a spare, smaller power generator could be used. Even injured children are treated without anesthesia, and vinegar must be used to clean the wounds. Doctors are exhausted by the amount of work that exceeds human capabilities.
According to American nurse Emily Callahan, who worked in the Gaza Strip for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in one of the camps for people displaced by the conflict, water is available for two hours every 12 hours, and there are 50,000 people there. internal refugees. They have access to four toilets.
In the south of the Strip, more than half a million refugees from the north are crammed into hospitals, school buildings and other improvised shelters; lack of water, access to medicines and hygiene products contributes to the spread of infections and infectious diseases. Seriously ill patients have no chance to continue treatment and have no access to chemotherapy or radiotherapy, reports the ociated Press.
The agency quotes the spokeswoman of the UN World Food Program, Alija Zaki, who warns that there is a real risk of malnutrition and starvation in the Zone.
Representatives of the French government announced on Thursday during a conference in Paris on the crisis in the Gaza Strip that they are considering evacuating wounded Palestinians to hospital ships in the Mediterranean Sea, and a medical helicopter has already been sent to Cyprus, from where it will take off for transport operations; another such helicopter is currently being prepared to start the mission.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Wednesday that some operations, including amputations, or surgical procedures are performed in hospitals in the Gaza Strip without anesthesia. In some medical facilities, doctors work using cellphone flashlights, CNN previously reported.
Already at the end of October, the authorities of the Gaza Strip reported that at least 30 hospitals and health centers had been closed because they had run out of supplies of medical supplies and fuel for power generators.
Israel has so far allowed about 500 trucks carrying medicines and food into the Gaza Strip. According to the UN, at least 100 aid trucks are needed every day to provide the most necessary supplies to the more than 2 million people in the embattled Gaza Strip. (PAP)
fit/mms/
arch.