[News] The Al Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza, "no longer functions as a hospital," the World Health Organization says

[TheKnight.]

 The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City "no longer functions as a hospital."

 

The director-general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, indicated that “there is constant shooting and shelling" in the surroundings of the building, which "exacerbated the already critical circumstances."

 

"Tragically, the number of patient deaths has increased significantly. Unfortunately, the hospital is no longer operating as a hospital. The world cannot remain silent while hospitals, which should be safe havens, are transformed into scenes of death, devastation and despair," the official said.

Gaza's Hamas-run health Ministry says more than 2,300 people are inside Al-Shifa, including patients, medical staff and displaced people.

 

For its part, the Israeli army has reiterated that it is "ready to help" evacuate dozens of vulnerable babies from the hospital, and denies having attacked it during the fighting against Hamas.The WHO acknowledged on Sunday that it had lost communication with its contacts at the hospital and expressed "grave concern" for the safety of staff and patients there.

 

The Israeli military has denied the accusations of attacking Al-Shifa, but maintains that there have been clashes with Hamas fighters in the area.

 

An Israeli army spokesman said it was agreed to evacuate the newborns to "a safer hospital" on Sunday, after doctors said four had died and 36 others were in danger.

 

In a post by X, the spokesperson urges people to move to the southern Gaza Strip.

 

The BBC's Nick Beake, a journalist in Jerusalem, reports that the fighting - and stories of evacuees being shot - make many inside the hospital feel that any attempt to get out is fraught with danger.

 

Heavy fighting continued overnight Sunday in the northern Gaza Strip as Israel's ground invasion continues.

 

Aid groups say the ongoing fighting makes any attempt to use evacuation routes extremely dangerous.

There are 36 newborns in the hospital who need intensive care treatment. The hospital doctors say they are afraid that the newborns could die.

 

The charity Medical Aid for the Palestinians says that without ambulances, the necessary equipment or a hospital to transfer the premature babies to, “there is no indication of how to be able to evacuate them safely."

 

 

https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/c3g2wk0gdpyo