{"id":251124,"date":"2023-12-25T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=251124"},"modified":"2023-12-23T07:13:55","modified_gmt":"2023-12-23T07:13:55","slug":"injured-patients-waiting-to-die-in-northern-gaza-as-last-hospital-shuts-down-amid-rising-catastrophic-hunger-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/12\/injured-patients-waiting-to-die-in-northern-gaza-as-last-hospital-shuts-down-amid-rising-catastrophic-hunger-levels\/","title":{"rendered":"Injured Patients \u2018Waiting to Die\u2019 in Northern Gaza as Last Hospital Shuts Down, Amid Rising ‘Catastrophic’ Hunger Levels"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A 3-year-old boy, whose house was bombed, recovers in Nasser hospital after the amputation of part of his right leg. Gaza, Dec 2023\u00a0 \u00a9 UNICEF\/Abed Zaqout<\/p><\/div>\n

21 Dec 2023 – There are no functioning hospitals in the north of Gaza and injured patients who need surgery and cannot be moved are \u201cwaiting to die\u201d, the UN health agency said today, in a plea for a ceasefire to allow more aid into the shattered enclave.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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The latest grave assessment from the World Health Organization (WHO<\/a>) came after UN teams reached Al Ahli Arab hospital and Al Shifa hospital on Wednesday, amid reports of intensifying ground operations by Israeli Defense Forces and continuing airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, in response to Hamas\u2019s 7 October terror attacks on southern Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatients were crying out in pain, but they were also crying out for us to give them water,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>said WHO Emergency Medical Teams coordinator Sean Casey, describing the scene at Al Ahli Arab hospital, where medical staff were struggling to cope with \u201cno food, no fuel, no water\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks more like a hospice now than a hospital. But a hospice implies a level of care that the doctors and nurses are unable to provide\u2026. It’s pretty unbearable to see somebody with casts on multiple limbs, external fixator on multiple limbs, without drinking water and almost no IV fluids available.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, it’s a place where people are waiting to die unless we are able to move them to a safer location where they can receive care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guterres aid call<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Highlighting the need to relieve the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres<\/a> on Thursday said that \u201cintense fighting, lack of electricity, limited fuel and disrupted telecommunications\u201d had severely restricted the UN\u2019s efforts\u00a0<\/strong>to provide life-saving aid to people in the enclave.<\/p>\n

\u201cConditions to allow for large-scale humanitarian operations need to be re-established immediately,\u201d the UN chief insisted in a tweet.<\/p>\n

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A boy cycles through the heavily bombarded Asqola neighbourhood of Gaza City, Dec 2023
\u00a9 UNICEF\/Omar Al-Qattaa<\/p><\/div>\n

Growing hunger\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The high-risk mission to northern Gaza involving the WHO, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA<\/a>, the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) ensured the delivery of seven pallets of urgently needed medicines, intravenous fluids and supplies for surgery and to treat the wounded, along with equipment to support women giving birth.<\/p>\n

Important though the delivery of medical supplies to the north is to provide some relief to patients, much more worrying is the growing and already widespread shortage of food and water.<\/p>\n

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REPORT: The entire population of #Gaza<\/a> is experiencing crisis levels of hunger.<\/p>\n

Around 26% of Gazans have exhausted their food supplies and coping capacities.<\/p>\n

Without access to adequate food, clean water, health and sanitation, families face catastrophic hunger and starvation.<\/p>\n

— World Food Programme (@WFP) December 21, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n