Israeli military has intensified the bombing of Rafah in southern Gaza. At the same time, some of the most important healthcare facilities have been closed. Rafah’s main Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital has stopped receiving patients as a result of the fighting. The hospital, which is a maternity hospital run by the United Arab Emirates, delivered an average of 85 babies a day before it stopped accepting patients.
Israel has also taken control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. This means that patients in need of emergency care can no longer be evacuated out of the Gaza Strip, and volunteer foreign medics can no longer enter or go home.
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Missing gauze pads
Many injured are being treated at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah in central Gaza. The hospital lacks basic necessities, such as sterile gauze pads and surgical gowns.
– There are beds everywhere, in the corridors, in the halls. In some of them there are two patients per bed. In the reception, there are patients on the floor, says Ali Abu Khurma, a surgeon from Jordan who works as a volunteer at Al Aqsa Hospital.
Additional field hospitals
Israel told Reuters that any disruption to emergency aid due to the latest attack should be short-lived and that additional field hospitals would be provided near the coast in an area it said was safe.
In the clip, doctors testify about the medical situation in Gaza