A humanitarian assessment team visited Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza and saw signs of the Israeli shelling and gunfire in what was described as a "death zone," the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday.
The WHO-led team, which included public health experts, logistics officers and security staff from various UN departments, was able to spend only an hour inside the hospital on Saturday due to security concerns, WHO said in a statement.
The team described the hospital as a "death zone" and said the situation was "desperate," with the hospital basically not functioning as a medical facility due to scarcity of clean water, fuel, medicine and other essentials.
"Signs of shelling and gunfire were evident. The team saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and were told more than 80 people were buried there," the WHO statement said.
The hallways and hospital grounds were filled with medical and solid waste, and patients and health staff expressed fear for their health and safety, it said. There were 25 health workers and 291 patients, including 32 babies in critical condition, remaining in Al-Shifa, WHO said.
"WHO and partners are urgently developing plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families," it said.
"Over the next 24-72 hours, pending guarantees of safe passage by parties to the conflict, additional missions are being arranged to urgently transport patients" to other hospitals in the south of Gaza.
The remaining 2,500 internally displaced people who had sought refuge on Al Shifa grounds were gone after the Israeli Defense Forces issued evacuation orders on Saturday, WHO said.
WHO repeated its call for an immediate ceasefire and sustained humanitarian assistance, saying options for medical care in the small coastal enclave were dwindling. (QNA)
Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital Is ‘Death Zone’, WHO Says, After Team Sees Mass Grave in Front Filled With 80 Bodies
WHO explained the dire situation at Al-Shifa hospital where 291 patients and 25 health workers are still there
Al-Shifa hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Gaza, has turned into a “death zone” amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, according to the World Health Organization (WHO.)
The hospital has been coming “under bombardment” as Israel launched multiple airstrikes north of the Gaza Strip, according to WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris, Reuters previously reported.
A humanitarian team from WHO and the UN assessed the situation at Al Shifa for one hour after Israeli forces occupied it and tried to evacuate its premises.
“Due to time limits associated with the security situation, the team was able to spend only one hour inside the hospital, which they described as a ‘death zone,’ and the situation as ‘desperate,’” WHO said in a statement Saturday. “Signs of shelling and gunfire were evident. The team saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and was told more than 80 people were buried there.”
The Israeli air and ground operations are meant to eradicate Hamas after the terror group attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking some 200 hostages.
The continuous Israeli bombardments and ground operations in Gaza have killed more than 12,300 Palestinian civilians, including over 4,500 children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Additionally, over 28,000 people have been injured and thousands of others displaced from the north to the south of the Strip.
WHO explained the dire situation at Al-Shifa hospital where 291 patients and 25 health workers remain there. Many of those remaining are in critical condition.
Several patients also died inside over the past 2-3 days because medical services were shut down.
On Sunday, the Associated Press reported that 32 babies were evacuated from the hospital and are en route to Egypt.
Al-Shifa could no longer function as a hospital due to the lack of fuel, clean water, medicines, food, and other essential aid for the past 6 weeks.
Patients remaining at Al-Shifa are expected to be transferred to Nassar Medical Complex and European Gaza hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip, despite those hospitals “working beyond capacity.”
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