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Destruction at the Ahli Arab Clinic (photo taken on October 18)
Photo: Ahmed Zakot / REUTERS
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip continues to deteriorate after weeks of fighting between Israel's army and the terrorist organization Hamas. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is now no hospital operating in the north of the area due to a lack of fuel, staff and goods. In the entire Gaza Strip, nine of the former 36 health facilities are still partially functional, said Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO's Gaza representative from Jerusalem. They are all located in the south of the Gaza Strip.
"In fact, there is not a single functioning hospital left in the north," Peeperkorn continued. The Ahli Arab Hospital is only "minimally functional", some patients are still being treated, but new ones are no longer admitted. Peeperkorn said the Ahli Arab Clinic is now just "the shell of a hospital." About ten employees would still work there and carry out the most basic treatments – with meagre resources.
According to Peeperkorn, until two days ago, the hospital had been the last where the injured were treated. It was already completely overcrowded with patients who needed emergency treatment, Peeperkorn said. There would be no more operating theatres. According to the WHO official, the bodies of people who were recently killed in Israeli air strikes are stored in the courtyard of the clinic. The information cannot be independently verified.
"They are starving and dying of thirst"
WHO Relief Coordinator Sean Casey corroborated the accounts in a video from Ahli Arab Hospital published on X (formerly Twitter). In the northern Gaza Strip, patients are dying not only because of lack of medical care, Casey said in a video link from Rafah. "They are starving and dying of thirst."
Casey and a team had visited two clinics in Gaza City the day before. Some patients with war injuries are already waiting days or even weeks for surgery, he said. "Patients were screaming in pain, but they were also screaming for water," he said. The WHO is calling for a ceasefire to provide essential supplies to health facilities and to transfer patients from the Gaza Strip to Egypt.
There had been a heavy explosion at Ahli Arab Hospital in mid-October, killing many people. Hamas accused Israel of carrying out an airstrike on the clinic. The military blames the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad for the strike. According to the report, the terrorist group launched a rocket near the clinic, debris then fell on the hospital. Islamic Jihad, which operates alongside Hamas in Gaza, rejected this as a "lie."
fek/Reuters/dpa