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Israel-Palestine live: Nearly all Gaza City hospitals out of service, Israel admits global pressure for ceasefire [1]
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Date: 2023-11
Medics in Gaza have been speaking about just how dire the situation is at al-Shifa hospital, the enclave's largest medical facility, which has effectively closed down because of lack of resources and Israeli shelling in the vicinity.
Ahmad Mukhallati, the head of the plastic surgery department at the hospital, told Middle East Eye on Monday that there was no water or electricity at the facility, and food and fuel had almost run out.
"We've got only one socket where we put on the anaesthesia machine," he said. "We don't do anything except for life-saving procedures now."
He added that premature babies placed in incubators were at grave risk now that fuel had run out.
Mukhallati explained that the incubator machines, which "mimic the situation within the uterus", require high levels of electricity.
'This situation means we are waiting for [the premature babies] to die one by one' - Ahmad Mukhallati, doctor, Al-Shifa hospital
"[The babies] have to be fully isolated from the surrounding areas so they don't get any infection as their immunity is not mature yet," he said.
But because of the blackout, the infants have been moved to normal beds - conditions in which they cannot survive.
"Unfortunately, this situation means that we are waiting for them to die one by one," Mukhallati said, adding that five premature babies had already died in recent days.
"We believe that we don't give any benefit to the patient," he said. "We can't treat them with no water, no basic hygiene, no electricity or supplies, or even basic food."
He added that there was nowhere to move or bury dead bodies.
"The bodies will be really the big source of infection and all kinds of bacteria and other diseases, and then we can't do anything," he said.
Health ministry official Munir al-Bursh broke down on Monday morning on Al Jazeera as he explained that stray dogs were eating the bodies of civilians in the yard of al-Shifa hospital, as no one was able to bury the dead amid the bombardment.
Dr. Munir Albursh, of Gaza’s health ministry breaks down into tears as he tells Al Jazeera that stray dogs are eating the bodies of civilians killed in Al Shifa hospital yard, because they weee unable to reach them! pic.twitter.com/T5jGrOv3FP — rand (@X3303i) November 13, 2023
Mukhallati called for the "massacre" to be stopped and for a "safe, guaranteed corridor" to allow patients to be evacuated from the facility.
But as of the past three days, no one has been able to get in or out of the hospital, with Israeli snipers and tanks firing just metres away from the facility.
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[1] Url:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/israel-palestine-hamas-war-gaza-live-invasion
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