Israeli Attack on Hospitals in Gaza Continues

On Sunday, Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkaila denounced that the Israeli occupation forces surrounded the Al-Shifra hospital in Gaza with tanks.

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"The Israeli occupation forces are not evacuating people from hospitals. Instead, they are forcibly removing the wounded and patients to the streets, leaving them to face inevitable death. This is not an evacuation but an expulsion under threat of weapons," she said.

Youssef Abu Rish, the deputy Health Minister of Gaza, stated that Israeli bombs destroyed the cardiology building of the Al-Shifa hospital, the largest one in the Palestinian territory.

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that there are difficulties in evacuating this hospital, which has about 60 patients in intensive care, 37 premature babies, and over 500 patients on dialysis.

"The catastrophe unfolding in Gaza now is unprecedented in Palestinian and international history. Hospitals are besieged, bombed, and their patients, medical staff, and displaced people are killed in full view of the entire world," the Palestinian Health Minister said.

She confirmed the deaths of 12 patients at Al-Shifa hospital, including two newborns, as a result of power outages and shortages of medical supplies.

Currently, 3,000 cancer patients, who were receiving treatment, face imminent death as a result of the forced eviction motivated by the Israeli occupation forces.

"All pregnant women, especially those with high-risk pregnancies, are now in imminent danger as they cannot find anyone to provide them with medical care," Minister Alkaila warned.

Patients and wounded cannot reach Al-Shifa Hospital, causing many to lose their lives either due to bleeding or lack of essential medications and treatments.

Alkaila also denounced that the Israeli drones continue to threaten and shoot at people. Therefore, medical staff cannot move between sections and buildings inside Al-Shifa hospital.

"Another danger that threatens the lives of patients is the inability of medical teams to bury 100 victims, whose bodies have begun to decompose in the hospital courtyard. Stray dogs attacked some of the bodies and medical waste is accumulating inside the hospital," she stressed.

"Patients in beds are again injured as a result of the bombing, which has affected water wells, oxygen stations, the main gate, and other facilities of the medical complex," Alkaila added, indicating that patients and health workers do not have food or water to survive.

The solution to the ongoing crisis is to supply Al-Shifa Hospital with electricity, fuel and medical supplies. If this does not happen, a safe evacuation of patients to Egypt is necessary as Gaza hospitals can no longer accommodate more wounded.

On Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) announced that the Al-Quds hospital has ceased all operations as a result of shortages of fuel, medical supplies, food and water.

It expressed deep concern over the dire humanitarian conditions inside this hospital, where medical teams are making maximum efforts to provide medical care to patients.

The PRCS holds the international community and all signatory countries of the Fourth Geneva Convention responsible for the total collapse of the Gazan health system.