Gaza hospitals say food, medicines running out amid ongoing Israeli offensive

Palestinian health officials called on Wednesday for a humanitarian corridor to three hospitals in northern Gaza that have come close to collapse as the Israeli occupation army has cut off the area for almost two weeks during its ongoing genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip, Reuters has reported.

Doctors at the Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda and Indonesian Hospitals have refused to leave their patients despite evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military at the start of a major push into the Jabalia area of northern Gaza 12 days ago.

“We are calling on the international community, the Red Cross and the World Health Organisation to play their humanitarian role by opening up a corridor towards our healthcare system,” said Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital. “We are talking about more than 300 medical staff working at Kamal Adwan Hospital, and we can’t provide even a single meal for them to be able to offer medical services safely.”

According to Hadeel Obaid, a nursing supervisor at the Indonesian Hospital, where 28 patients are being treated, “Nothing has entered northern Gaza. People are starving.”

Obaid pointed out that only one meal is available per day to everyone, including doctors, nurses, patients and their carers. “It is a small amount, not enough for an adult.” Medical supplies, she added, are running low due to the daily needs of the wounded.

Palestinian health officials said the new Israeli offensive has killed around 350 Palestinians in Jabalia and nearby areas. In Gaza City on Wednesday, an Israeli air strike on a house killed 13 people, said medics.

In its daily update, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli military strikes had killed 65 Palestinians across the enclave in the past 24 hours.

The dire humanitarian situation has prompted worldwide alarm, with the United States, Israel’s biggest military backer, issuing one of its strongest warnings that Israel must improve the situation or face potential restrictions on military aid.

Speaking to Reuters in Istanbul, senior Hamas official Basem Naim said that the US demands showed that Washington and Israel had only “tactical differences” while “looking for ways to implement the same goals.”

Naim noted that it was difficult to have faith in Washington’s call for more aid and humanitarian relief for Gaza, when it is providing billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and security assistance to Israel.

READ: Several UN Security Council members denounce Israel’s starvation of people in Gaza, demand action