Gaza no longer has a functional hospital in the north, says WHO 

The north of Gaza no longer has a functional hospital due to a lack of fuel, staff and supplies, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said today. Only nine out of 36 health facilities are partially functional in the whole of Gaza, added the organisation, and all of these facilities are concentrated in the south of the enclave, Reuters has reported.

“There are actually no functional hospitals left in the north,” Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in Gaza, told reporters via a video link from Jerusalem. “Al-Ahli [Hospital] was the last one but it is now minimally functional; still treating patients but not admitting new ones.”

Describing it as a “shell of a hospital”, Peeperkorn said Al-Ahli resembled a hospice providing very limited care. About ten staff, all junior doctors and nurses, continue to provide basic first aid, pain management and wound care with scant resources, he explained.

“Until two days ago, it was the only hospital where injured people could get surgery in northern Gaza and that was overwhelmed with patients needing emergency care. There are no operating theatres any more due to the lack of fuel, power, medical supplies and health workers, including surgeons and other specialists.”

The bodies of victims from recent Israeli attacks are lined up in the hospital’s courtyard because they cannot be given safe and dignified burials, added the WHO official.

In addition to Al-Ahli Hospital, northern Gaza had only three other minimally functioning health facilities: Al-Shifa, Al Awda and Al Sahaba Hospitals, which Peeperkorn said were sheltering thousands of displaced people. Some patients at Al-Ahli have been waiting for surgery for weeks If they have been operated on, they face the risk of a post-operation infection due to lack of antibiotics and other drugs.

“None of these patients can move. They need to be transferred urgently to have a chance to survive,” said the official, reiterating the WHO’s call for a humanitarian ceasefire. “This is needed now to reinforce and restock remaining health facilities, deliver medical services needed by thousands of injured people and those needing other essential care, and, above all, to stop the bloodshed and death.”

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