DayofPal– Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, has reteirated on Monday that the hospital has been under Israeli military siege for 45 days, explaining that reports about medical aid having entered the hospital are misleading.
“After four weeks of waiting World Health Organization to flood food, medicine and specialized medical delegations to the hospital, the Israeli army has stripped ambulances of food, blocked medical teams, and allowed only 7 out of 40 medical supply boxes to enter,” Abu Safiya clarified in press statements on Monday.
Abu Safiya emphasized that patients in the hospital succumb to their injuries on a daily basis due to the scarcity of specialized surgical care pointing out that a crisis is unfolding, with children—four of whom are in critical condition—arriving at the facility suffering from severe malnutrition.
“We’re now also seeing an increasing number of adults affected by malnutrition,” he added.
“We receive desperate calls for help every day, yet we are powerless to respond,” he said, revealing that “There are no ambulances, no civil defense teams operating in northern Gaza, under siege by Israel, where people are cut off from water, food, and essential medicine.”
“After the surgical teams were arrested, no new surgeons are permitted to enter the hospital, leaving us with no means to provide the care that’s desperately needed,” he added.
The situation at Kamal Adwan Hospital has worsened significantly after the Israeli forces bombed its upper floors and arrested most of the medical staff last month.
Now, only two doctors remain, supported by a handful of nurses. Dr. Abu Safiya shared that on Sunday, the hospital received a heartbreaking distress call from women and children trapped under the rubble. Tragically, it is likely they succumbed to their wounds, as the overwhelmed medical teams were unable to reach them in time.
For the 45th consecutive day, northern Gaza has endured an unrelenting Israeli siege, marked by widespread starvation, forced displacement, and relentless airstrikes and artillery bombardments. The region is completely cut off from the rest of Gaza, in what international and UN organizations have condemned as an operation amounting to ethnic cleansing.
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