The Israeli military has been bombing the Gaza Strip for more than a month, targeting hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, and residential buildings. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 8,000 children and women, and more than 28,000 have been wounded. The Israeli attacks have also displaced about 1.5 million Palestinians and destroyed or damaged more than 260,000 homes.
The Israeli offensive began on 7 October, when Hamas militants breached the Gaza-Israel barrier and launched a surprise attack on southern Israel. Tel Aviv responded by imposing a total blockade on Gaza and carrying out airstrikes on civilians, followed by a ground invasion of northern Gaza on 27 October.
The situation in Gaza’s hospitals is dire, as they lack fuel, electricity, water, and medical supplies. The Israeli military has also prevented ambulances and humanitarian aid from reaching the wounded and the sick. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) have lost contact with Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical facility, which has been repeatedly shelled by Israel. The hospital’s director said that all intensive care unit (ICU) patients had died due to the power and oxygen outages and that two premature babies and two doctors were killed by Israeli fire.
The UN and other international organizations have called for an immediate ceasefire and urged Israel to respect international humanitarian law and protect civilians. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed the calls for a truce, saying that Israel will continue to fight until it achieves its goals. He accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields and hiding weapons in hospitals and schools. Hamas, on the other hand, has demanded an end to the Israeli blockade and occupation of Gaza, and the recognition of Palestinian rights.
The Ministry of Health has officially announced the death of all ICU patients in the Al-Shifa hospital due to the outages of electric power and oxygen.
He added: “We have lost 3 premature babies so far in Al-Shifa Medical Complex. The occupation contradicts itself by saying that it does not besiege Al-Shifa Complex, and at the same time it opposes transferring premature babies outside the complex.”
According to Al-Qudra, oxygen is no longer available to treat the injured due to the occupation bombing of the oxygen collection centre in the Al-Shifa Complex. About 10,000 people are currently in the Al-Shifa Complex and are missing the necessities of life.
