UN warns many Gaza hospitals “on the brink of collapse”
Gaza’s main hospital center, Shifa Hospital, is “on the verge of collapse,” as well as other health facilities in the Strip due to a lack of electricity, medicine, equipment and personnel, the Gaza Coordination Office warned on Monday. . Humanitarian Affairs in the Country. In its daily report on the conflict in Gaza since October 7, the day of the Hamas attack against Israel, the humanitarian agency points out that Shifa is currently treating about 5,000 patients, if the theoretical capacity of these are 700, to which it should be added 45,000 internally displaced persons sheltered in the facilities. “A large number of patients are being treated on the ground, because there are not enough beds,” said the report, recalling that the 17 existing hospitals in the north of the Strip, the area controlled by Israel in evacuation, continues to operate. for the risk that more patients will run if they are transferred.
The United Nations also recalled that 16 health workers died in the clashes, in addition to 29 employees of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), the main humanitarian aid body that can still work in Gaza. This agency warned on Sunday that there is fuel left for the next three days, needed to power, for example, hospitals or water desalination plants.
Overcrowding in hospitals is echoed in UNRWA schools and other facilities now used to house Gaza’s internally displaced people (1.4 million in total). About 700,000 people live with relatives, 71,000 in schools, 101,000 in hospitals, churches and other public buildings, and 580,000 in schools and other UNRWA shelters, most of which are designed to -accommodate between 1,500 and 2,000 people each, ceiling (and the one in Khan Yunis can accommodate 21,000).
“To guarantee a safe environment, at night women and children stay in classrooms, while boys and young men sleep outside, in the school playground,” reports the United Nations in its daily report. (Ephesians)
