International Red Cross Spokesperson Alyona Synenco has stated that the situation at Gaza hospitals is ‘heartbreaking’. Synenco’s comments came in an interview with Deutsche Welle TV
The International Red Cross spokesperson said that less than half of the hospitals in Gaza are still operating, and their situation is worsen dramatically as the Israeli offensive on Gaza continues.
“Doctors are running out of anesthetics and blood supplies, as more severely injured people arrive every day,” she added.
Patients in Gaza hospitals face ‘inevitable death’ as Israeli troops besiege them for third day.
Moreover, hospitals have run out of fuel, while civilians continue to flee the fighting; and Gaza’s largest hospital is ‘not functioning’ amid Israeli assault.
No way in, no way out,” said Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The largest hospital in Gaza has ceased to function and fatalities among patients are rising, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday, as a fierce Israeli assault continues in the Hamas-controlled strip.
Hospitals in the north of the Palestinian enclave, including the al-Shifa complex, are blockaded by Israeli forces and barely able to care for those inside, with three newborns dead and more at risk from power outages amid intense fighting nearby, according to medical staff.
The WHO managed to speak to health professionals at al-Shifa, who described a “dire and perilous” situation with constant gunfire and bombing exacerbating the already critical situation, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
‘Any military operation around hospitals must consider the presence of civilians, who are protected under international humanitarian law,’ ICRC said
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) last Friday called for the respect and protection of medical facilities, patients and healthcare workers in Gaza, saying destruction because of the ongoing conflict is becoming “unbearable.”
Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.
The statement came after several reported attacks in and around the compound of Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza City’s main hospital.
“The destruction affecting hospitals in Gaza is becoming unbearable and needs to stop. The lives of thousands of civilians, patients and medical staff are at risk,” said William Schomburg, head of ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza.
The aid organization in a statement described the healthcare system in the Palestinian enclave as “overstretched, running on thin supplies and increasingly unsafe,” which has “reached a point of no return, risking the lives of thousands of wounded, sick and displaced people.”
“Any military operation around hospitals must consider the presence of civilians, who are protected under international humanitarian law,” the ICRC stressed.
Health minister appeals
Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila has appealed to the Red Cross to press Israel to stop attacking Gaza.
Mai Al-Kaila held an urgent meeting with Red Cross officials and briefed them on the health situation in enclave
The Palestinian Health Minister sent an urgent distress call on Sunday to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to press Israel to stop its attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The move came as she held an emergency meeting with the ICRC’s delegate in Jerusalem and its health affairs coordinator.
“Hundreds of patients and wounded are threatened with death at any moment as a result of the bombing and besieging of hospitals, the power outage, the running out of fuel, medicines and medical supplies, and the lack of the minimum necessities of life in them,” Al-Kaila said according to a Health Ministry statement on Facebook.
She reviewed “the catastrophic health situation in the Gaza Strip and the attacks on the health system, where 23 hospitals out of 35 have completely stopped working and the occupation forces are besieging many hospitals and preventing entry or exit from them for medical staff, paramedics and patients.”
Al-Kaila said that “citizens in the Gaza Strip are living in tragic health conditions, as there is no safe place and there are no conditions for survival such as water, food, safety and healthcare. On top of that are the Israeli bombings which have led to the deaths of more than 11,000 people, the wounding of 27,000 citizens, and the loss of about 3,000 more.”
She once again called on all international and human rights institutions and organizations to “stand up to their responsibilities in order to stop the Israeli aggression and immediately allow the entry of health support and fuel to hospitals and allow patients to go for treatment outside the Gaza Strip, as well as the entry of volunteer medical teams into the Gaza Strip as well as water and food.”
Israel has been carrying out relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip — including on hospitals, residences and houses of worship — since the Palestinian group Hamas launched a cross-border attack on Oct. 7.
Since then, the number of deaths in the ongoing Israeli attacks has surpassed 11,100, including more than 8,000 women and children, the government media office in Gaza said on Sunday.
The Israeli death toll is nearly 1,200, according to official figures.
