The helplessness of doctors striving to save lives in the embattled Gaza Strip is adding to the storm of misery that has struck the region over the past weeks. Eighteen days into the war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas militants’ attacks against Israel, the humanitarian situation is deteriorating, and a ceasefire appears to be out of reach.
Dr. Abu Nasir, a volunteer doctor at Al-Shifa hospital, has been witnessing in despair patients for whom nothing can be done to help. The most severe injuries he has witnessed are fourth-degree burns that covered 80% of the victim’s body.
“These patients are beyond our help,” he told DevelopmentAid. “We stand before them, helpless, as their bodies succumb to the flames.”
In the past 24 hours alone, more than 700 Palestinians, including 300 children, have died as a result of Israeli airstrikes according to data by the Hamas-run health ministry. This brings the total number of casualties to almost 6,000, including 2,360 children and 1,292 women, with Gaza’s population exceeding 2 million.
Hospitals are overcrowded, lack fuel
Faced with a huge inflow of patients in dire need of help, a severe shortage of resources and equipment, and with the imminent risk of power outages caused by the lack of fuel, hospitals will soon be unable to operate and provide medical care to the wounded, the health ministry’s spokesperson, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said.
Al-Shifa hospital, where bed occupancy is already close to 150%, is one of the facilities in northern Gaza waiting for supplies and fuel. The Indonesian Hospital is currently operating with limited functionality after being forced to shut down some essential services last night due to a fuel shortage. For the same reason, the Turkish Friendship Hospital, the only oncology hospital in the Gaza Strip, is only partially operational, endangering the lives of about 2,000 cancer patients.
“We [at Al-Shifa hospital] have doubled the hospital’s capacity several times,” Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nasir, told DevelopmentAid. “But the numbers we receive around the clock exceed our capabilities.”
The World Health Organization has warned that six hospitals across the Gaza Strip have already shut down due to the lack of fuel.
“Unless vital fuel and additional health supplies are urgently delivered into Gaza, thousands of vulnerable patients risk death or medical complications as critical services shut down due to lack of power. This includes 1000 patients dependent on dialysis, 130 premature babies who need a range of care, and patients in intensive care or requiring surgery who depend on a stable and uninterrupted supply of electricity to stay alive,” it noted.
Displaced people sleep in the streets as facilities are overwhelmed
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has said it is providing shelter to nearly 600,000 people who have been displaced by the ongoing armed conflict. Most of the displaced are in the Middle, Khan Younis and Rafah areas where 93 UNRWA facilities are hosting about 420,000 people.
Shelters are operating beyond their capacities and many new internally displaced persons (IDPs) are sleeping on the streets as current facilities are overwhelmed. The number of IDPs in UNRWA shelters is four times higher than that which UNRWA had originally planned for.
The UN agency has also reported that the death toll of its staff in Gaza has risen to 35 and 40 of its installations have been damaged since the start of the conflict on 7 October.
Much-awaited aid finally allowed to enter but contains no fuel
According to Mohamed Gamal, coordinator of the Egyptian Red Crescent branch in North Sinai, the fourth convoy of aid to Gaza is being prepared and is ready to be delivered. Food, humanitarian, medical, and pharmaceutical aid are all part of the cargo.
Gamal told DevelopmentAid that the crossing time is being coordinated with the authorities on a daily basis.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire, despite the arrival of 75 trucks of aid in four convoys since Saturday, 21 October, the first since the beginning of the conflict on 7 October. The first, third and fourth convoys each contained 20 trucks, while the second convoy consisted of 15 trucks.
However, this is far from enough to meet the needs of the population. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described it as “a drop of aid in an ocean of need”. The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, tweeted yesterday that the aid delivered to Gaza so far “is barely making a dent”.
The aid delivered to Gaza so far is barely making a dent.
We need more, and we need it now.
We need it to include fuel.
And we need it to go to civilians in need wherever they are.
I can’t stress this enough.
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) October 24, 2023
Moreover, none of the convoys included much-needed fuel. UNRWA has reported that it will run out of fuel within the next two days, putting at risk the delivery of humanitarian aid to people in need.
In the meantime, Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned the attacks by both sides and urged them to respect international law. He said:
“I’m deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza.… Even war has rules. We must demand all parties uphold and respect their obligations under international humanitarian law.”
