The UN humanitarian agency says there is no access to hospitals in northern Gaza
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced on Friday that hospitals in northern Gaza were inaccessible after the two hospitals that were operating – Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan – came under Israeli blockade.
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, told CNN that since Saturday morning, Israeli forces have partially withdrawn from the surrounding area, despite continued shooting. Safiya said she was unable to reach the facility, but some medical staff were still at the hospital treating patients, while other hospital staff had been evacuated “a few days ago.”
In a new report released on Friday, OCHA said health workers and patients had been evacuated from Kamal Adwan Hospital, and most are now in Al-Hilu Hospital in Gaza City, according to the World Health Organization.
He also said that Al Awda Hospital is “partially functioning” in northern Gaza, “but it remains difficult to access,” after the Israeli army forced the evacuation of most hospital staff, patients and their companions, according to the World Health Organization. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on the X website that 12 employees, including the director, as well as 14 patients and eight of his companions were still at the scene.
CNN has contacted the Israel Defense Forces.
As of Friday, 15 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were only partially functioning, 21 were out of service and six field hospitals were operational, according to the OCHA report citing the World Health Organization. Existing hospitals are operating at more than four times their capacity, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
He added, “The lack of fuel, medical supplies and equipment threatens the ability of the remaining health facilities to operate,” warning that the situation is still critical in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The agency said that it was able to deliver 15,000 liters of fuel to the hospital on Friday, but it appealed for urgent provision of fuel to avoid an “imminent crisis” in the event of a power outage, which could endanger the lives of more than 1,200 wounded patients and newborns, and about 600 patients suffering from failure. Kidney disease and need dialysis treatment.
The United Nations relief agency warned that some displaced people in central Gaza are currently living on 3% of the minimum to meet their daily water needs and that infectious diseases, such as diarrhea and suspected hepatitis, continue to increase, with children under five the most common. They were affected.
Earlier this week, the head of the World Health Organization called on Israel to ease all restrictions on aid entering Gaza, noting that the main entry route for life-saving medical aid into Gaza from Egypt had been cut off amid an Israeli army operation in the Strip. The city of Rafah in the south.
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