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"It's devastating... There's no food or fuel. Lives are being lost because there's no access to water or electricity," said a Palestinian doctor – who did not wish to be named – working at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex and central hospital in the Gaza Strip, has turned into a refugee camp and a bomb shelter, with severely injured people huddled all over in the hope that they live to see another day, the doctor said.
Gaza City, a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, is now under 'complete siege' amid Israeli attacks, with no food, water, or electricity – days after a 'surprise' attack by militant group Hamas rocked Israel on 7 October. The combined death toll in Israel and Palestine has crossed the 3,000 mark, with at least 1,354 killed in Gaza, AFP reported.
"We don't know what to do. We'll lose more and more lives, but can do nothing but just watch," the doctor told The Quint.
According to the Palestine Health Ministry's press release on 10 October, the eight hospitals (in the region) are "not sufficient to meet the needs" of the Gaza Strip, where at least 2.3 million people live. Many of these hospitals are also not fully functional – like Al-Shifa's neonatal unit, which has been damaged, or the Beit Hanoun Hospital, which is now inoperative.
"With the scale of the bombings, we are unfortunately unable to guarantee the security of our medical facilities. This makes it very complicated to operate in this context. On 10 October, bombings close to our facilities partially destroyed our clinic in Gaza City and the house where our international colleagues live," said Sarah Chateau, Head of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Program for Palestine.
MSF is an international, independent organisation that provides medical assistance to those affected by conflict, epidemics, and disasters.
Another doctor, who is also working with Al-Shifa, said that now, even healthcare professionals are unable to handle the load due to constant bombing. For very one life saved, 10 more patients walk into the hospital, he said.
"Every five minutes people are walking into the hospitals. If I could send you photos, you'll see that there are patients everywhere. Sitting in the lawns, in the corridors, on staircases. We have patients everywhere. We are already unable to get people to the operating theatre because there's no electricity. There is constant bombing. If you save one life, there are 10 other incoming patients. We don't know what to do," the doctor explained.
"We're at the start of what looks like it might be a protracted war, yet we're seeing depletion of critical resources happening so early on that hospitals are running short on supplies," Ghassan Abu Sitta, a surgeon and Medical Assistance for Palestine Trustee, who is treating patients at Al-Shifa Hospital, had said on social media.
"It is unprecedented, according to our colleagues in Gaza, who have unfortunately lived through previous wars. In terms of intensity, this bombardment really exceeds anything they have experienced before," Chateau said.
"We are not thinking about medicines or oxygen supply. That is the scale of the tragedy – we are saving as many lives as possible with just basic essentials which we may soon run out of. There are sheets and sheets of patient lists, and we are getting to people whom we have resources to save," the doctor added.
Sana Beg, Director of Communications for MSF, told The Quint that some hospitals are relying on fuel for their generators, and may have just enough for a few days.
The humanitarian organisation has moved medical supplies from their two-month emergency reserves to the Al-Awda Hospital in Gaza, and where they reportedly used three weeks worth of stock in the past three days.
For the last four days, many healthcare professionals in the Palestinian hospitals have not been able to go home, the doctors said. Many others who have at home when the siege began, meanwhile, were unable to make it to the hospitals.
But there's no option but to carry on, they say.
"Yes, I am worried for my family and for my own life. But we have to carry on and save innocent lives, until they come for the hospitals," the other said.
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