Gaza's healthcare facilities teetering on the brink of collapse in the face of continuous Israeli airstrikes
UNRWA issued a warning that its fuel reserves are expected to run out within three days, jeopardizing humanitarian operations in Gaza.
Israeli warplanes have conducted airstrikes in the vicinity of three hospitals in the Gaza Strip: Al-Shifa and Al-Quds Hospitals in Gaza City, and the Indonesian Hospital in the north. However, the full extent of the damage is yet to be determined. The director of the Indonesian Hospital mentioned that the Israeli bombardment resulted in “serious damage and injuries,” but did not provide specific details.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that Israel had ordered the evacuation of Al-Quds Hospital on October 14. Still, it was deemed impossible to relocate the sick and wounded patients at that time.
A senior doctor in Gaza has issued a grave warning, highlighting the vulnerability of infants relying on ventilators in the event of an interruption of electricity. Dr. Fu’ad al-Bulbul, who heads the neonatal department unit at Al-Shifa Hospital, expressed that such a situation would be “catastrophic,” emphasizing that most babies depending on ventilators would not survive because they could only save a limited number due to the power constraints.
Additionally, the UN agency supporting Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has raised concerns that its fuel reserves will run out in three days, which poses a significant threat to humanitarian efforts in Gaza. The nursery at Al-Shifa Hospital, with 45 incubators, primarily cares for preterm babies from high-risk pregnancies. Dr. Al-Bulbul also revealed the severe shortage of essential medicines, stating that they had run out of surfactant and used their last caffeine citrate. The medical team is overwhelmed with an excessive caseload, with most infants being critically ill, and they have been working tirelessly for 18 consecutive days.
Regarding the broader situation, the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has resulted in a high number of casualties. Israel has conducted a relentless bombing campaign, leading to significant loss of life, including many civilians, and causing extensive destruction. The situation is dire, with critical shortages of essential supplies and humanitarian aid.
In the hospital morgue, numerous children’s bodies lay on the bloodstained floor, where grieving families wept as they identified the victims, as reported by AFP.
Among them, there was a man holding his lifeless toddler, and a young boy who gently uncovered his little sister’s body.
Wael Wafi, while looking at the body of his cousin who still held his three-year-old daughter Misk, said, “My cousin was asleep in his house, holding his daughter in his arms. He was an ordinary man with no affiliation to any resistance groups.”
Additionally, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced that 29 of its staff members had been killed since the conflict began, with half of them being teachers. This statement came through a communication platform, formerly known as Twitter, on a specific date. The agency had previously reported a toll of 17 casualties.
The extensive bombing has crippled essential infrastructure. The UN reported that a large number of unidentified bodies had to be buried in a mass grave in Gaza City due to the depletion of cold storage capacity.
Meanwhile, near the Gaza border, an Israeli soldier lost his life when Hamas fighters inside the enclave fired an anti-tank missile, as confirmed by the army.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant cautioned that the conflict with Hamas could extend over several months, stating, “It may take one month, two months, or even three months, but in the end, there will be no more Hamas.”
The second aid convoy entered the Gaza
On Sunday, a second procession of 17 aid trucks crossed into Gaza from Egypt, following the initial shipment of 20 trucks that arrived on Saturday. This came after extensive negotiations and under the influence of pressure from the United States.
Furthermore, six trucks departed from Rafah after refilling from the diminishing fuel reserves stored at the crossing. This comes as the enclave grapples with severe shortages, following Israel’s discontinuation of supplies including food, water, fuel, and electricity, as reported by AFP. Water supplies to the south were only reinstated on October 15.
While Egyptian media indicated that an additional 40 trucks were expected to enter Gaza on Monday, the United Nations insists that the enclave requires 100 trucks per day to adequately meet the needs of its 2.4 million residents.
Thus far, no fuel deliveries have been made, and UNRWA’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, cautioned on Sunday that their fuel supplies would be exhausted “within three days.” He emphasized, “Without fuel, there will be no water, no operational hospitals, and aid will be unable to reach many desperate civilians.”
The Hamas government reported that the airstrikes had destroyed 165,000 housing units, which amounts to half of all housing units in the entire Gaza Strip.
Furthermore, on Sunday, Israel acknowledged mistakenly targeting an Egyptian border post and issued an apology for the incident. Cairo stated that this had resulted in “minor injuries” to an unspecified number of border guards.
Related: Council session to discuss the conflict in Gaza
Risk of regional escalation
Israel’s Netanyahu warned that it would be “the mistake of its life” if Hezbollah, a close ally of Hamas and Iran, entered the fight, as there were further gunfire exchanges over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. “We will strike it with a force it cannot even imagine, and the significance for it and the state of Lebanon will be devastating,” he said.
On Sunday, Iran’s senior diplomat, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, issued a warning about the violence spreading. He stated that if Israel and Washington did not “immediately stop the crime against humanity and genocide in Gaza.. the region will go out of control”. However, just hours after the Pentagon moved to step up military readiness in the region, Washington declared it would not hesitate to intervene in the event of any “escalation”. “If any group or any country is looking to widen this conflict and take advantage of this very unfortunate situation that we see, our advice is: don’t,” US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on ABC News. On Sunday, Pope Francis used his weekly Angelus prayer in Rome to plead for an end to the bloodshed.
“War is always a defeat, it is a destruction of human fraternity. Brothers, stop!” he said. He later held a 20-minute conversation with US President Joe Biden about “conflict situations in the world and the need to identify paths to peace”, the Vatican said. Biden later discussed the war with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy, the White House said. The US president also held talks with Netanyahu, said the White House, adding: “The leaders affirmed that there will now be continued flow of this critical assistance into Gaza.” In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office announced he would be traveling to Israel on Tuesday for talks with Netanyahu. Protesters marched in several European capitals on Sunday.
At least 10,000 people rallied in support of Israel in Berlin as Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to stamp out a resurgence of anti-Semitic incidents linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Thousands gathered in Paris to demand an end to Israel’s operation in Gaza, the first pro-Palestinian rally in the French capital that wasn’t banned on security grounds.
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