Middle East
UN: Convoy with medicines reaches clinic in Gaza Strip
The Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip needs more life-saving supplies, according to the UN. photo
© Mohammed Talatene/dpa
The UN calls the hospital’s medical conditions “catastrophic.” Another delivery of relief supplies has now reached the clinic. However, the enormous need is far from being met.
Although the quantities delivered were welcome, they were far from enough to cover the enormous needs in the Gaza Strip. “Medical conditions at Al-Shifa – the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip and one of the oldest Palestinian health facilities – are catastrophic,” the statement said.
The hospital is bursting at the seams. The emergency room and the wards are overcrowded. The number of injured was increasing hour by hour, while patients were suffering unnecessary pain as medicines and anesthetics ran out. In addition, tens of thousands of displaced people sought protection in the hospital’s parking lots and yards.
Medical facilities were running out of supplies and fuel. UNRWA and WHO renewed their call for the supply of fuel to humanitarian organizations in the Gaza Strip. Without fuel, hospitals and other facilities such as desalination plants and bakeries could not function. As a result, more people would die.