Gaza - New York: Europe and the Arabs
"My son was hit by shrapnel in his back, near his kidney... The doctors themselves are exhausted from the large number of injured. They are unable to stand on their feet due to exhaustion. We are now awaiting God's mercy." This is how Ibrahim al-Banna, a resident of Gaza, summed up the tragic situation of his injured son and other wounded and sick people in Gaza, where hospitals are collapsing under the weight of military operations, the closure of crossings, and the denial of entry of medical supplies. According to the UN daily news bulletin we received this morning, it added, "Al-Shifa Medical Complex—located in the heart of devastated Gaza City—represents a stark symbol of the war's devastating impact on vital infrastructure. While footage captured by our correspondent in the Strip reveals the extent of the damage to the complex's buildings—turning them into shattered shells, a testament to the heavy bombardment—a single partially restored building stands out as a meager sign of continued healthcare in the face of overwhelming need.
Entrances and emergency departments are crowded with injured and sick patients, while medical staff struggle to provide services amid a severe shortage of staff and medical supplies.
A UN correspondent in Gaza visited Al-Shifa Hospital and met with patients, their companions, and health officials, conveying to us the extreme suffering inside the devastated hospital.
"We want to be treated like human beings."
Ibrahim Al-Banna sits next to his injured son, Karim, comforting him, patting him on the shoulder and stroking his head, trying to ease his pain. He tells our correspondent, "We appealed to the doctors, but the doctors themselves are exhausted by the influx of injured people, and they cannot." Standing on their feet from extreme fatigue and exhaustion. We are simple citizens, and we appeal to the entire world—Arab and foreign—to consider our plight. We are a people who want to live. We want to be treated like human beings.
"My wish is that our children receive good medical care."
Not far from Ibrahim al-Banna, Hanan al-Dayeh stands next to her daughter who suffers from cerebral palsy. She tells UN News: "My daughter has cerebral palsy, and with great difficulty, I brought her to the hospital because of her fever. The doctors treated her, but my wish is that our children receive good medical care during the war."
She continued, "We face great difficulties in bringing patients to the hospital, and even in providing them with food and medicine. The permanent siege and the closure of the crossings have killed people. We are exhausted; we are suffering not only from the war, but also from hunger and poverty. We hope that someone will sponsor the treatment of patients. We need referrals for treatment abroad, or at least the provision of well-equipped hospitals in safe places, especially since we find no safety in our homes or in hospitals. Even now, it is very difficult to obtain treatment."
Awad Al-Arabeed, an elderly man, suffered a broken pelvis and has been in the intensive care unit at Al-Shifa Hospital for more than two months. He described his condition to us, saying, "My health is in shambles due to malnutrition and a lack of medication. This is not due to stinginess on the part of the doctors; they are doing their best and giving us the best they can, but the limited resources reduce the quality of treatment and affect the patient's health. We in the Gaza Strip need three times the current resources to achieve a good health status."
Hospital Groaning Under Pressure
Health officials in Gaza warn that the continuation of the current situation threatens the complete collapse of the health system in the Strip, in the absence of any signs of an improvement in the humanitarian situation or the entry of vital supplies. In an interview with our correspondent, Dr. Hassan Al-Shaer, the medical director of Al-Shifa Hospital, said: "The number of patients and wounded arriving at the reception department is increasing daily, ranging between 500 and 600 cases. This is an extremely high number compared to the available resources. Dealing with the wounded is extremely difficult due to the severity of the injuries and the limited resources. We only have two operating rooms, which is a very small number compared to the scale of the injuries." Sometimes, according to Al-Shaer, between 10 and 15 seriously injured patients arrive at the hospital, requiring immediate surgical intervention. He noted that the pressure forces them to compare injuries and coordinate with other hospitals to transfer some of them. "This places a heavy burden on us, and we may lose some of the most critically injured."
More hospitals are out of service
With the escalation of military operations in the northern Gaza Strip, health authorities report that three major hospitals are out of service—Kamal Adwan, Indonesian, and Al-Awda hospitals.
Meanwhile, Al-Shifa and Baptist hospitals in Gaza City are still operating at limited capacity. In Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is still providing services, while Nasser and European hospitals in Khan Yunis are operating at limited capacity despite being bombed.
Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, is completely out of service. As a result of all this, patients and those with chronic illnesses face increasing challenges due to the lack of medical care and the unavailability of medicines and basic services.