ActionAid Ireland said today that staff at its partner hospital in northern Gaza, Al-Awda, are desperately trying to cope with an influx of injured patients from Gaza City in one of the bloodiest weeks since the start of the war.
ActionAid Ireland CEO, Karol Balfe, said doctors at the hospital are working around the clock to treat the new arrivals despite a critical lack of vital medical supplies, equipment and fuel, which has forced them to postpone scheduled surgeries and rely on small generators to keep the facility running. She also expressed concern at the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza with a new warning from a group of UN experts of threatened famine in the area.
Ms Balfe said:
“The last few days have seen deadly attacks across Gaza, including in areas where people had been told to flee to. ActionAid is horrified by reports of four attacks on or around schools, where thousands of displaced people were sheltering. Schools have protected status and attacks on them could amount to a grave violation of international humanitarian law.”
She said as attacks on Gaza City intensify, staff fear the number of casualties coming to Al-Awda hospital – which is one of just 13 in Gaza that is currently partially functional – could further increase. On Wednesday the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for the whole of Gaza City, despite there being nowhere safe for people to flee to.
Ms Balfe said:
“Hospitals in Gaza are facing overwhelming demand. They are scrambling to treat people wounded in Israeli attacks – many of whom have catastrophic and life-changing injuries – as well as the ever-growing numbers of patients who are dangerously sick after months of living in inhumane, overcrowded and unsanitary conditions without enough to eat.”
Dr Mohammed Salha, acting director of Al-Awda Hospital, told ActionAid staff in a voice note update:
“Since this morning, Al-Awda Hospital has received 12 injured people and one person who has been killed. They were brought from Gaza City following the Israeli army’s incursion. We received 10 injured people who had been evacuated from Al-Mamadani [now known as Al-Ahli] Hospital to the hospitals operating in the Northern Gaza Strip.”
“There are not sufficient quantities of fuel to operate the generators. We need medicines and medical supplies to perform surgeries. Many surgical operations have been postponed. Scheduled operations have been postponed because we are unable to operate the large generator.”
He said:
“The World Health Organization sent a small quantity of fuel a month ago which was sufficient [to keep the hospital running for one week only]. Now it has been more than a month that we haven’t received fuel to operate the hospital…There is only a small amount [left], which is sufficient to operate the hospital on small generators for a day. We hope that our partners from the World Health Organization and the United Nations organisations will [be able to] quickly supply the hospital with the fuel necessary for operation and provide the hospital with medical supplies and medicines so that we can keep providing our services to injured people.”
“We do not know how long the [Israeli forces] will remain in Gaza City and the number of casualties we will receive at Al-Awda Hospital.”
In relation to the hunger crisis in Gaza Ms Balfe said the amount of aid entering the territory and reaching those in need continues to be wholly inadequate. According to a stark warning issued by a group of UN experts, famine is spreading across Gaza.
In total 34 Palestinians have died from malnutrition according to Gaza’s health authorities, most of them children.
Ms Balfe added:
“Our partners in Gaza paint a harrowing picture of the current situation, with pregnant women losing their babies because they are so malnourished and desperate mothers struggling to find anything to feed their starving children.”
“This is a stain on humanity’s conscience and an entirely preventable, human-made crisis. The world cannot sit back and watch any more children die from lack of food: more life-saving aid must be allowed into Gaza immediately. We call on all states to use every diplomatic lever available to them to bring about a permanent ceasefire, now.”
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