North Gaza hospitals not functioning as fighting rages

FE Team | Published: November 14, 2023 00:30:41

A wounded Palestinian woman from the Baraka family is surrounded by her children upon their arrival at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip following Israeli air strikes that hit their building on Monday. — AFP

GAZA STRIP, Nov 13 (Agencies): The hospitals in northern Gaza were no longer functioning amid fuel shortages and intense combat, with the death toll inside the territory's largest facility rising, the Hamas-run health ministry said Monday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City "is not functioning as a hospital anymore"
The WHO says "constant gunfire and bombings in the area have exacerbated the already critical circumstances"
Doctors there say they fear the remaining 36 newborn babies needing intensive care treatment may die.
Meanwhile, the US has carried out air strikes on two Iranian bases in Syria, following attacks against its military personnel in Syria and Iraq.
Israel began striking Gaza after the Hamas attacks on 7 October, which saw 1,200 people killed and more than 200 taken hostage.
The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since - of whom more than 4,500 were children.
Another report adds: The UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned Monday its operations in war-torn Gaza would shut down within two days due to fuel shortages as fighting rages between Israel and Hamas.
"The humanitarian operation in Gaza will grind to a halt in the next 48 hours as no fuel is allowed to enter Gaza," UNRWA's Gaza chief Thomas White wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Israel argues its Hamas enemies built their military headquarters under the Al-Shifa hospital complex, while UN agencies and doctors in the facility warned a lack of generator fuel was claiming lives, including infants.
Witnesses reported intense overnight air strikes, with tanks and armoured vehicles just meters from the gate of the sprawling Al-Shifa compound at the heart of Gaza City, now an urban war zone.
The Hamas government's deputy health minister Youssef Abu Rish said the death toll inside Al-Shifa rose to 27 adult intensive care patients and seven babies since the weekend as the facility suffered fuel shortages.
Gaza has been reliant on generators for over a month after Israel cut off power supplies following the October 7 attack and the besieged territory's only power plant ran out of fuel.