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14-11-2023
GAZA CITY: The Director General of hospitals in Gaza warns the lives of hundreds of patients are at risk because of the catastrophic situation at al-Shifa Hospital.
Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila says Israeli forces “are not evacuating people from hospitals; instead they are forcibly evicting the wounded onto the streets, leaving them to face inevitable death”.
Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital has been caught in Israel’s ground offensive and health officials say its cardiac ward has been destroyed.
More than 11,100 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. In Israel, after a downward revision, the death toll now stands at more than 1,200.
Doctors Without Borders say emergency medics in Jenin have been called to the public hospital nearly every night, as Israeli incursions with tanks and ground troops batter the city. Over the past month, Israeli forces have killed 30 people and injured at least 162 more in Jenin city alone.
Local paramedics in Jenin refugee camp have to use a tuk-tuk, donated by MSF, to weave through the narrow alleyways of the camp to collect the wounded. Israeli forces often block the entrance of the camp, making it near impossible for ambulances to get in and out with the critically wounded in time to save their lives.
According to the UN agency OCHA and International Organizations on the socio-economic impact of the war on Gaza revealed that Israeli attacks had destroyed more than 41,000 housing units and damaged more than 222,000 housing units.
UN agency OCHA said at least 45 percent of Gaza’s housing units have been damaged or destroyed.
279 educational facilities have been damaged, more than 51 percent of the total, with none of Gaza’s 625,000 students able to access education.
Also, more than half of Gaza’s hospitals and nearly two-thirds of primary health care centres are out of service and 53 ambulances damaged.
Water consumption has fallen by 90 percent since the war started.
Most of Gaza’s 65 sewage pumps are out of service, OCHA said.
There are no stocks left of vegetable oil, pulses, sugar or rice.
People are on average queuing for 4-6 hours to receive half the normal bread ration.
Around 390,000 jobs have been lost since the start of the war, said a joint report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
In a preliminary estimate, the UN agencies said poverty is expected to rise by between 20-45 percent, depending on the duration of the war. (Int’l News Desk)
