The fighting in Gaza, the situation of civilians and more

The World Health Organization reported on Thursday that there were no longer any functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, and detailed the “unbearable” scenes observed by teams during their latest mission.

“There are no longer functioning hospitals in the north,” Richard Peppercorn, the World Health Organization’s representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, said at a press conference.

According to Peppercorn, the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza is Al-Ahli Hospital, but the lack of fuel, electricity, medical supplies and staff has left it “minimally functional.”

“Now Al-Ahly has become a hospital… It has stopped operating completely and currently operates only as a hospice, with very little or no care.”

Only nine of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are now operational, Pepperkorn said, adding that all nine are located in southern Gaza.

A representative of the World Health Organization spoke to reporters after the missions carried out by the organization during the past days in Al-Ahly and Al-Shifa hospitals in Gaza City.

Sean Casey, who led missions to the two hospitals, recounted the “unbearable” scenes that World Health Organization workers witnessed in a church in the Al-Ahly complex that had been converted into a temporary ward.

“A church with about 30 patients, almost none of whom are outpatients. So, there are bedridden patients, some with serious injuries… We saw a lot of patients who said they hadn’t showered or changed their clothes in weeks,” Casey said. .

“The patients were screaming in pain, but they were also screaming for us to give them water. It is absolutely unbearable to see someone with splints on several limbs, external fixators on several limbs, and just asking for drinking water.”

Casey said that describing Al-Ahly Club as a hospice implied a “level of care” that the five doctors and five nurses working there “simply cannot provide,” given the actual lack of resources.

He stated that Al-Ahly is now closer to “a place where people wait to die” unless they are transferred to a “safer place” capable of providing care.

Casey said that the remaining medical staff in Al-Ahly are doctors in training and cannot perform surgical interventions, explaining that the World Health Organization is working to try to transfer these patients to a center in southern Gaza.

He also provided an update on Al-Shifa Hospital, describing its emergency department as a “bloodbath.”

“It has very few staff, almost the same number as Al Ahli Hospital, which cares for hundreds of patients. Thousands of internally displaced people are taking refuge on the hospital grounds.”

Casey stressed the need to deliver more fuel supplies to Shifa, noting that they need 10,000 liters of fuel per day, a number he described as a “significant increase in fuel.”

“We need urgent action,” Casey emphasized in his closing remarks. “We must prevent these children, women and elderly people from dying in a place where they should be safe and where they should be cared for.”