“There is no hospital operating” in northern Gaza

A The World Health Organization (OMG) said this Thursday that the north of the Gaza Strip has no functioning hospital following more than two months of Israeli attacks.

“In fact, there is no longer any hospital operating in the north. Al-Ahli Arab was the last one, but now it is not functional at all”said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in Gaza, speaking to journalists via video call.

Hospitals became one of the main sources of tension between the two poles of the conflict in November, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) accused Hamas of using al Shifa and other medical facilities as command and control centers, in addition to carrying out military operations inside and outside these installations, reports Sky News.

Although the IDF has claimed to have found tunnels and weapons belonging to Hamas, the group has been denying the facts.

Thousands of people were forced to take refuge in hospitals due to Israeli attacks. In this sense, the ability to effectively treat the hundreds of injured people on site is enormously restricted.

The overcrowding of medical units is also due to a huge shortage of material, with many declaring a ‘chronic shortage’ of basic products, such as bandages and painkillers.

While Israel claims it allows enough aid into the enclave, Hamas allegedly confiscates and hides supplies to further suffocate Gaza and create a humanitarian crisis, which it blames on Israel.

The Hamas Government, in power in Gaza since 2007, announced on Wednesday that Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have resulted in 20,000 deaths since the start of the war on October 7, and 52,600 injuries.

Israel declared war on Hamas, in retaliation for the attack of unprecedented dimensions since the creation of the State in 1948, carried out on October 7 by the group in Israeli territory, which left 1,139 dead, most of them civilians, according to the most recent report of the Israeli authorities.

Around 250 people were also kidnapped that day and taken to Gaza, 129 of whom are still in captivity by the movement, considered a terrorist organization by the EU, the US and Israel, they added.

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