The Israeli army has escalated its attacks on hospitals in the Gaza Strip, which has been under siege and bombardment for more than a month.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported on Saturday that the death toll from the Israeli aggression reached 11,100, including 4,506 children, 3,027 women, and 678 elderly people, as well as about 27,500 wounded.
The ministry explained that 39 premature babies in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex are in danger of dying at any moment, and one of them died on Saturday, due to the lack of fuel for the hospital generators. It warned that the situation would be catastrophic if fuel was not allowed into the hospitals, as the incubators would only work until the evening of the same day.
Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila said that 20 out of 35 hospitals in the Gaza Strip have stopped functioning, either because of direct Israeli targeting, fuel shortage, or power outage. She added that many wounded people are dying because they cannot receive treatment.
She said that Al-Nasr Hospital was hit by an Israeli missile, which destroyed the nursery department and damaged the solar panels, causing the electricity and water supply to be cut off.
She described the situation in Gaza as “unprecedented in Palestinian and international history”, saying: “Hospitals are besieged, bombed, and their patients are killed in front of the whole world.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society also said that Israeli tanks and military vehicles are surrounding Al-Quds Hospital from all sides and that artillery shells are causing the building to shake. It said: “There is heavy gunfire at the hospital and the number of casualties is unknown.”
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, announced on Saturday that the Al-Shifa Complex has ceased to operate and is out of service, due to the Israeli army targeting everything that moves inside the complex.
He said: “We are trapped inside the Al-Shifa Medical Complex at the moment, and there are many drones in the sky.” He noted that the intensive care and pediatric departments and oxygen equipment had stopped working.
Al-Qudra confirmed that two patients died in the intensive care departments and that the rest of the patients in these departments are at risk of dying at any moment, because of the intense bombing and shooting inside the hospital.
He added: “The Israeli army is shelling the fifth floor of the surgery building inside the Al-Shifa Medical Complex right now, and we cannot move from one building to another inside the complex, because of the heavy bombing and gunfire.”
This comes as the Arab-Islamic summit dedicated to discussing the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip was held on Saturday afternoon in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The meeting resulted in nothing but the usual condemnation and denunciation.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip’s Ministry of the Interior called on the leaders of the Arab and Islamic worlds to pressure the Israeli authorities and the US administration to end the aggression, and to move from describing the dire situation to taking decisive action.
The ministry said that the people of Gaza are facing genocide and are being massacred in front of the eyes of the indifferent world.
In addition, Doctors Without Borders said on the “X” platform that Gaza’s hospitals have been under constant attack for the past 24 hours, while medical staff and patients are still inside them. The organization demanded an immediate stop to the firing at Gaza’s hospitals so that doctors could save the lives of the wounded.
The Government Information Office in Gaza said that Al-Shifa Hospital was the scene of a “full-scale crime”, noting that thousands of people inside the hospital were in danger of death. The office said: “No one can bury the bodies in the hospital’s yards, because anyone who moves outside the buildings is targeted by drones.”
The Israeli army also announced that at least 150,000 people fled northern Gaza in the past three days. The army said in a statement: “All hospitals in Gaza must be evacuated to deal with Hamas”, adding: “Several thousand people are still in the courtyard of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and must be evacuated.”
