Medical workers across the Gaza Strip operate on patients without anesthesia, are forced to turn away patients with chronic illnesses, and treat horrific wounds with limited medical supplies. Due to the shortage of painkillers, “we leave patients screaming for hours and hours,” said one of them in an interview with the BBC.
The World Health Organization (WHO) assessed the health care situation in Gaza as “indescribable”. It was said that 23 hospitals in Gaza were not operating at all since Sunday – 12 were operating partially and one was minimally operational.
The health agency also said that the airstrikes and lack of supplies had “depleted a system that is already under-resourced”.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Hamas “systematically uses hospitals and medical centers for its terrorist activities.”
They also said they were allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza, including medical supplies.
However, humanitarian organizations, including the WHO, claim that there have been “repeated restrictions and denial of access”.
In a statement to the BBC, they claim that the IDF “did not ‘attack’ the hospitals, but entered certain areas … [to] neutralize Hamas infrastructure and equipment and arrest Hamas terrorists, while acting with great caution.”
Overcrowded hospitals operate under limited conditions
Many hospitals in Gaza are overcrowded and have limited equipment, health workers say. There are reports that some hospitals in southern Gaza are operating at over 300% of their bed capacity.
Medicines and supplies
Doctors say they are struggling to work with limited medical supplies. “We can’t find a drop of oxygen,” one of them noted.
One of the doctors confirmed that the operations are performed without anesthesia.
He added that doctors there were performing operations by lamplight due to the lack of electricity.
The WHO announced that there are about 20,000 health workers in Gaza, but that most are not working “because they are fighting to survive and take care of their families.”, N1 writes.
photo ©️ Anadolu Agencija
