MSF reports that the two hospitals it supports in Gaza “cannot cope with the influx of patients.” In the days since the cessation of fighting ended on Friday, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed or wounded by Israeli air and ground strikes, according to the relief agency.
“We hear the sounds of bombing all around us day and night,” says Katrin Claes, MSF team leader in central Gaza. ‘In the past 48 hours, 100 dead and 400 wounded arrived at the emergency department at Al-Aqsa Hospital. Some patients were immediately admitted for surgery.
In Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, the city where the Israeli army is advancing, the situation is not much better. “The hospital receives several seriously injured patients almost every hour,” said Chris Hook, MSF coordinator in Khan Younis. “The situation as it is in the hospital – there is no room left – is really terrible. Everyone is very worried about what is to come.”
An MSF worker who had to flee to Khan Yunis said: “Every day, the Israeli authorities order the evacuation of a new neighborhood, asking people to move to another city, further south.” “Even during the truce, people were not allowed to return to their homes in the north. Only three or four neighborhoods are still accessible, and they are all congested.
Martin Albers
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