Gaza, Nov 15:Ā Amid intense Israeli strikes near and at medical facilities, the United Nations has expressed concern over the fact that only one hospital is functioning in northern Gaza, CNN reported on Tuesday. The situation has left medical workers struggling to keep patients, including premature babies, alive.
“All but one of the hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza are reportedly out of service, as of November 13, due to the lack of power, medical consumables, oxygen, food and water, compounded by bombardments and fighting in their vicinities,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday.
According to the UN, out of roughly 30 hospitals and clinics in northern Gaza, only one medical facility can reportedly receive patients. At least 500 patients seek shelter at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, in Gaza City. Recently, US President Joe Biden also expressed concern over the safety of hospitals in Gaza amid Israeli allegations that Hamas is using them to coordinate attacks.
“Well, you know, I have not been reluctant to express my concern with what’s going on, and it’s my hope and expectation that there will be less intrusive action relative to the hospitals, we’re in contact with the Israelis,” Biden said on Monday. Biden added that there is an effort to take “this pause to deal with the release of prisoners, and that’s being negotiated as well, and the Qataris are engaged, so I remain somewhat hopeful, but the hospitals must be protected.” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan echoed Biden’s remark on Monday, saying, “We do not want to see firefights in hospitals.” “We want to see patients protected,” Sullivan said.
“We want to see hospitals protected. We have spoken with the Israeli Government about this and they have said they share that view that they do not want to see firefights in hospitals,” CNN quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, the condition further deteriorated as Gaza’s major hospitals — Al-Shifa and Al-Quds — stopped functioning due to the lack of fuel and electricity amid the ongoing Israeli assault, CNN reported, citing Gaza officials.
Doctors at Al-Shifa Hospital are resisting an IDF mandatory evacuation order, stating that about 700 patients would die if left behind, according to the director-general of the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. At least 11,180 Palestinians, including 4,609 children and 3,100 women, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the occupied West Bank, CNN reported.