UNRWA has facilitated the delivery of much needed emergency medical supplies and medicines to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, north of the Gaza Strip, despite huge risks to staff and health partners due to relentless bombardments.
This is only the second delivery of lifesaving supplies to the hospital since the escalation of hostilities and the total siege of Gaza began. On 24 October, WHO delivered medical supplies to the hospital amid high insecurity.
Almost 1,000 patients are currently in the emergency department of the Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza
Patients at the hospital are undergoing immense pain as anesthetics are running out, with the aid delivered “far from sufficient.”
There are currently almost two patients for every bed available. The emergency department and wards are overflowing requiring doctors and medical workers to treat wounded and sick patients in the corridors, on the floor, and outdoors.
The number of wounded increases by the hour while patients are undergoing immense and unnecessary pain as medicines and anesthetics are running out. In addition, tens of thousands of displaced people have sought shelter in the hospital’s parking lots and yards.
Al Shifa Hospital has traditionally been the most important health facility in Gaza. Its doctors, nurses and other workers have responded heroically to the current desperate situation.
UNRWA and WHO have renewed their urgent call for the delivery of fuel to humanitarian agencies in the Gaza Strip. Without fuel, hospitals and other essential facilities like desalination plants and bakeries cannot operate, and more people will most certainly die as a result.
