Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza
At least 12 hospitals and 32 clinics in the Gaza Strip have been shut due to a lack of power and the damage caused by Israeli air strikes, the Palestinian Health Ministry has said.
The closures have come in the two weeks since the deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel that led to a retaliatory siege of Gaza and heavy air strikes, resulting in the killing of more than 5,000 Palestinians and displacement of over one million.
One Red Cross official working closely on the crisis told The National that hospitals were now so over-crowded, many people were taking refuge "in stairwells."
“Since 7 October, 12 hospitals and 32 primary care clinics across Gaza have been forced to shut down due to damage they had sustained or lack of electricity and supplies,” the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
The enclave's Al Shifaa hospital, which is harbouring 45,000 displaced people and more than 600 wounded and injured patients, is on the verge of collapse as it runs out of medical supplies and beds, Dr Marwan Abu Saad, director general of health co-operation at the ministry, told The National.
Hospitals are full and cannot keep up with the influx of people and an increase in electricity and water consumption, officials said. Aid lorries carrying food, water and medicine have begun to enter Palestinian territory through Egypt's Rafah crossing but humanitarian groups have said this is a “drop in the ocean” of what is needed.
Gaza's health system has reached “the worse stage in its history”, said Ashraf Al Qudra, spokesman for the ministry on social media platform X, previously known as Twitter.
Dr Abu Saad said they were attempting to find solutions “but they are not realistic”.
“If the air strikes continue, then we will not be able to cater to this amount of people,” he said.
“The hospital and its surrounding [area have] been targeted various times and every hour we receive a huge number of patients. We don't have any more beds to offer, so the majority of new patients are getting treatment on the floor.”
A collapse of health services at the hospital could come within hours, Dr Abu Saad said.
-
Palestinians look for survivors of Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at Nusseirat refugee camp. AP -
A survivor is found in the rubble in Nusseirat. AP -
A man is given oxygen and pulled from the rubble in Nusseirat. AP -
This desperate search for survivors is being replicated across the Gaza Strip. AP -
Yocheved Lifshitz speaks to the media outside a Tel Aviv hospital after being released by Hamas. EPA -
Israeli women who were held hostage by Palestinian Hamas militants, Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper (also known as Nurit Yitzhak), are released by the militants. Reuters -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron before their talks in Jerusalem. AP -
Palestinians search for casualties at the site of an Israeli air strike on a house in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters -
Palestinians inspect the damage of a destroyed house that was hit by an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis. AP -
Ms Cooper and Ms Lifshitz arrive at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Centre after being released by Hamas on Monday. AFP -
A woman cries next to the rubble of a building after Israeli strikes on Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. AFP -
Wateen, a 14-month-old Palestinian baby, who was wounded in an Israeli strike that killed her mother and injured her twin brother Ahmed, recovers at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Reuters -
A Palestinian girl clutches salvaged books as people look for survivors in the rubble of a destroyed building hit in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis. AFP -
People mourn during the funeral of members of the Abu Morad family who died following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis. AFP -
A wounded Palestinian man arrives at Nasser Medical Complex, following Israeli air strikes on the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. AP -
Red Crescent Society employees sort humanitarian aid bound for Palestinians in Gaza, at a warehouse in Arish, Egypt. EPA -
Ayman Abou Chamalah stands next to his daughter Mecca as she receives care inside an incubator at a hospital in Rafah. AFP -
Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of Erik Kraunik, chief of security in the kibbutz of Be'eri, during his funeral at a cemetery in Yehud, Israel. AP -
A man sits among the rubble of a building destroyed in Israel's bombardment of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP -
A Red Crescent worker sorts aid for Palestinians in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the blockaded enclave. Reuters -
Israeli soldiers take part in a drill near the border with Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion. EPA -
Men fill fuel containers with drinking water in Rafah. AFP -
Smoke billows over Gaza after an air strike, as seen from southern Israel. AP -
A person holds a child as Palestinians gather in Khan Younis at the site of a house destroyed during an Israeli bombardment. Reuters -
Israeli soldiers sit on top of a tank near the border with Gaza. Getty Images -
Buildings destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Khan Younis. Reuters -
Palestinians are evacuated from a building in Rafah that was hit during Israel's bombardment. AP -
Shahar Idan, 9, mourns during the funeral of his brother Maayan, 18, who was killed by Hamas gunmen in the kibbutz of Nahal Oz. His father Tzahi is being held hostage in Gaza. Reuters -
Palestinian doctors treat a premature baby at Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al Balah, Gaza. AP -
Rescue crews search for bodies after Hamas militants attacked the kibbutz of Be'eri in Israel. Getty Images -
Lorries carrying humanitarian aid head to Deir Al Balah after crossing from Egypt through Rafah. Bloomberg -
Palestinians evacuate survivors in Deir Al Balah after an Israeli bombardment. AP -
Smoke rises after Israeli air strikes on Gaza. EPA -
Israeli soldiers at a position along the border with Lebanon. EPA -
A woman leans against the window of an ambulance outside Kuwait Hospital after an Israeli strike in Rafah. AFP -
A Palestinian cries as the body of his daughter is recovered from beneath the rubble of a building destroyed during an Israeli air strike on Rafah. AFP -
A convoy carrying humanitarian aid arrives in Rafah after crossing into the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Bloomberg -
The pictures of more than 1,000 people abducted or killed during the attack by Hamas militants are displayed on empty seats at Tel Aviv University. Getty -
Palestinians are evacuated from buildings in Rafah after the bombardment of the Gaza Strip. AP -
Israeli soldiers gather at an undisclosed location near the border with Gaza. EPA -
Palestinians mourn outside a house in Gaza struck by Israel. Reuters -
A bullet-riddled fridge in a house in the kibbutz of Kissufim in southern Israel, where 14 people were killed and four were abducted by Hamas militants on October 7. AP -
Football fans inside Anfield stadium hold up Palestine flags during the Liverpool-Everton derby on Saturday. Reuters -
Palestinians wounded in the bombardment of Gaza are taken to Al Asa Hospital in Deir Al Balah. AP -
Rescuers search for victims and survivors in buildings destroyed by air strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza. Getty -
Residents of Tel Aviv show support for the families of hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas. Reuters
The Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia area was shut down after running out of power, Hamas said, with the militant group accusing Israel of committing “crimes against humanity”.
Health workers are “seeing people die” every minute, Atif Khloot, general manager of the Indonesian Hospital, told The National.
“The hospital has totally collapsed and the world has signed off on the murder of sick patients,” he said.
“We are urging the international community to focus and provide international aid and doctors for Gaza's healthcare system,” Mr Khloot said.
The hospital needs at least 2,000 litres of fuel a day to operate.
Humanitarian groups have warned that Gaza urgently needs fuel supplies to power desalination plants, pump drinking water and operate life-saving equipment.
Hospitals, particularly in the north, are “inundated”, Jessica Moussan, the International Committee of the Red Cross media adviser for the Middle East, told The National.
“Staff are overwhelmed, resources are depleting and many are seeking refuge within these hospital walls, with some even finding shelter in stairwells,” Ms Moussan said.
“Health care is most vulnerable, yet most needed.”
Medical teams are working under “appalling conditions” and are “emotionally and physically drained”, apart from facing significant threats to their own safety, she said.
Doctors are treating doctors and nurses treating nurses “in a cycle that should never be”, she said.
