Rise in injured patients arriving at Al-Awda Hospital following Gaza City attacks, as facility faces urgent need for medical supplies and fuel.
Staff at Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza say they have received an influx of injured patients from Gaza City in recent days since the Israeli military ramped up its attacks on the area. Doctors at the hospital -- which is run by ActionAid’s partner in Gaza, Al-Awda -- are working to treat the new arrivals despite experiencing a critical lack of vital medical supplies, equipment and fuel, which has forced them to postpone scheduled surgeries and rely on small generators to keep the facility running.
As attacks on Gaza City intensify, staff fear the number of casualties coming to the hospital - which is one of just 13 in Gaza that is currently partially functional - could further increase. On Wednesday the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for the whole of Gaza City, despite there being nowhere safe for people to flee to.
Dr Mohammed Salha, acting director of Al-Awda Hospital, ActionAid’s partner in northern Gaza, told ActionAid in a voicenote update: “Since this morning, Al-Awda Hospital has received 12 injured people and one person who has been killed. They were brought from Gaza City following the Israeli army’s incursion. We received 10 injured people who had been evacuated from Al-Mamadani [now known as Al-Ahli] Hospital to the hospitals operating in the Northern Gaza Strip.’
“There are not sufficient quantities of fuel to operate the generators. We need medicines and medical supplies to perform surgeries. Many surgical operations have been postponed. Scheduled operations have been postponed because we are unable to operate the large generator.
“The World Health Organization sent a small quantity of fuel a month ago which was sufficient [to keep the hospital running for one week only]. Now it has been more than a month that we haven’t received fuel to operate the hospital...There is only a small amount [left], which is sufficient to operate the hospital on small generators for a day. We hope that our partners from the World Health Organization and the United Nations organisations will [be able to] quickly supply the hospital with the fuel necessary for operation and provide the hospital with medical supplies and medicines so that we can keep providing our services to injured people.
“We do not know how long the [Israeli forces] will remain in Gaza City and the number of casualties we will receive at Al-Awda Hospital.”
The last few days have seen deadly attacks across Gaza, including in areas where people had been told to flee to. ActionAid is horrified by reports of four attacks on or around schools in recent days, where thousands of displaced people were sheltering. Schools have protected status and attacks on them could amount to a grave violation of international humanitarian law.
Hundreds of thousands of people are now being forced to flee yet again, with no hope of finding anywhere safe or suitable to live as shelters become ever more overcrowded and unsanitary.
Riham Jafari, Advocacy and Communications Coordinator at ActionAid Palestine said:
“Hospitals in Gaza are facing overwhelming demand, as they scramble to treat people wounded in Israeli attacks – many of whom have catastrophic and life-changing injuries – as well as ever-growing numbers of patients who are dangerously sick after months of living in inhumane, overcrowded and unsanitary conditions without enough to eat. At the same time, they are facing desperate shortages of vital medicines, equipment and fuel, as well as food and water. More aid must be allowed into Gaza immediately so that hospital staff can continue their vital, life-saving work, and there must be a permanent ceasefire, now.”
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