Doctors expect “miracle”. There is only one “single hospital” operating in Gaza

O surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta revealed that the Al-Ahli hospital is, at the moment, the only hospital operating in the entire city of Gaza, after the al-Shifa and al-Quds hospital units were forced to close almost completely due to Israeli bombings .

“Since the collapse of al-Shifa Hospital, we have become the only functioning hospital in Gaza City“, said the doctor in statements to the television channel Al Jazeera.

“If you remember, this is the hospital that was initially targeted by the Israelis at the beginning of the war and therefore parts of the hospital are damaged,” recalled the health professional, referring to the October 17 explosion, which Israel denied responsibility.

“After the collapse of al-Shifa, We transformed the hospital courtyard and grounds into a field hospital. We have more than 500 injured here. We only have three surgeons and two operating rooms. We have to perform extremely painful procedures on patients’ wounds to prevent them from becoming infected, without painkillers or anesthetics. Supplies are limited and we save them for most life-saving surgeries,” explains Abu Sitta.

“Especially when we do it with children, we feel the pain that is being inflicted on us. But, at the same time, these wounds have to be cleaned”, he said.

Abu Sitta further reports to Al Jazeera that “90 percent of what I do now is buy time for these patients“, waiting for “something” to happen. “Some miracle, some breakthrough, some ceasefire or humanitarian corridor, anything“, these.

The doctor also considered that evacuation “is not possible at all” at this time, highlighting that “the streets are not safe”.

“There is machine gun fire around the hospital all the time and there are still attacks. We know that ambulance teams transporting patients are regularly shot at”, lamented Abu Sitta.

“I’m trying to understand what the world is waiting for, at what point does the world believe that enough is enough and that it is no longer acceptable, in this day and age, for this to be done to people“, he concluded.

It should be remembered that the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip was completely without electricity and the newborns had to be removed from the incubators. Six children have already died due to the lack of light and protection and the center continues to be attacked by Israel, despite thousands of civilians taking shelter.

Al-Shifa hospital is not, however, the only one under difficult conditions. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, led by Hamas, all hospitals in the north of the Gaza Strip are inoperative, including the second largest hospital in the region, Al-Quds, whose closure was announced by the Palestinian Red Crescent.

On October 7, fighters from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007 and classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel – carried out an attack on Israeli territory of unprecedented dimensions since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, leaving 1,200 dead, mostly civilians, around 5,000 injured and more than 200 hostages.

In retaliation, Israel declared a war to “eradicate” Hamas, which began with cuts to food, water, electricity and fuel supplies in the Gaza Strip and daily bombings, followed by a ground offensive that surrounded Gaza City.

The war between Israel and Hamas, which today entered its 38th day and continues to threaten to spread throughout the Middle East region, has so far left 11,180 dead in the Gaza Strip, 28,200 injured, 3,250 missing under the rubble and more than 1.5 million displaced people, according to the most recent report from local authorities.

Read Also: In Al-Shifa, babies were wrapped in aluminum to stay warm