Jerusalem, Nov 11 (EFE).- Gaza’s largest hospital has run out of electricity, the Strip’s health ministry said Saturday.
“The Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza has run out of water, fuel, food, electricity and telecommunications, with thousands of people inside, including wounded, patients and displaced people,” the Gazan Health Ministry said in a brief statement.
The medical center was struck by Israeli missiles on Friday.
According to the ministry, which is controlled by Hamas – the Islamist group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7 sparking the ongoing escalation in violence – Israeli snipers deployed in the buildings surrounding the hospital were firing at anyone trying to leave or move between the medical center’s buildings.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of embedding itself and its military assets within the enclave’s civilian population and infrastructure.
The director general of Gaza hospitals, Mohamad Zakut, stressed in statements to the media that “the hospital doors remain open, but we are unable to provide medical help to our patients” and that the pediatric intensive care unit, where 39 newborns are being held, has stopped functioning.
Shortly before, Dr. Munir al Borsh, quoted by the Health Ministry, reported the death of the first premature newborn who was under care in the neonatal section.
“He died due to the total power outage. Medical staff have been giving manual artificial respiration to some of them for three consecutive hours,” he added.
Zakut said that due to the absence of telecommunications, doctors were unable to communicate with other hospitals.
“We appeal to the international community to put an end to these war crimes. The situation is very critical,” he said, warning that patients in intensive care will die if nothing is done.
Hours earlier, the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) denounced that Israeli attacks on Al Shifa hospital had intensified overnight in a “dramatic” way.
On Friday, the Health Ministry reported a total power cut at the Indonesian Hospital, while both Gazan medical authorities and international organizations have denounced the closure of numerous hospitals and medical centers in northern Gaza due to the Israeli military campaign.
The intensification of the Israeli offensive coincides with an extraordinary summit of Arab and Islamic countries being held in Saudi Arabia to reach a “unified collective position” on the war in the Gaza Strip and its “unprecedented” repercussions.
That meeting will be attended by the heads of state from across the region.
More than 11,000 people have been killed and nearly 27,500 injured in the Gaza Strip in the conflict unleashed following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 were kidnapped. EFE
jfu/ks
