Al Shifa, the last fully operating major hospital in the war-torn Gaza Strip, faces imminent shutdown after two severe Israeli raids on top of 21 months of war, and a shortage of fuel.
Wounded Palestinians lie in the corridors of the hospital in Gaza city while bodies pile up in the morgue. Doctors and nurses perform surgery in squalid conditions, often by the light of mobile phones. Patients waiting outside for dialysis treatment sit among the rubble of a bombed-out hospital wing.
The Palestinian Health Ministry has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe due to the severe fuel shortage which is hampering hospital operations, desalination plants and the water supply.
Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al Shifa Hospital, on Wednesday stressed the need for an end to the Israeli blockade on fuel supplies. He warned hundreds of patients were at risk of death. "We have 13 patients in intensive care, most of them on ventilators," he said.
"A hospital without oxygen cannot be a hospital."
Power cuts are routine, medical supplies are scarce and storage rooms are now being used to house patients. The rooms are overcrowded and patients lie on the floor due to the lack of beds. Many of those working at the hospital are volunteers who toil for long hours without pay.
Israeli forces raided Al Shifa in November 2023. They claimed to have uncovered tunnels used as command and control centres by Hamas, but failed to provide evidence of any significant network under the hospital.
In April 2024, the Israeli army conducted another operation at the hospital, lasting two weeks, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries, arrests and extensive destruction.
After Israeli forces retreated, at least three mass graves with hundreds of unrecognisable bodies were discovered at Al Shifa. Among the dead were medical, nursing and administrative staff, as well as displaced civilians who had been seeking shelter.
Scorched and destroyed buildings, collapsed ceilings and empty wards were among what remained after Israeli forces withdrew.
