With the distorting situation with every hour and no more anesthetics left, the doctors in Gaza have decided to leave the territory. The British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta has asked his team to leave Al Ahli Hospital – the last functioning hospital in Gaza City, according to Reuters.
Reportedly, the building of the hospital has been shaking because of the Israeli tank fire, and the enclave has been facing a shortage of anesthetics to operate hundreds of patients.
The news agency has underscored that after leaving the hospital, Abu Sitta was rushed to Nuseirat refugee camp in Central Gaza. He also shared his experience with Reuters and was quoted saying, “It has been a living nightmare – leaving 500 wounded knowing that there’s nothing left for you to be able to do for them, it’s just the most heartbreaking thing I ever had to do.”
Further, he also took his official X, formerly known as Twitter, handle to express his concern. He stated, “No longer able to provide surgeries at Ahli Hosp. The hospital is now effectively a first aid station. Hundreds of wounded are now at the hospital with no access to surgery. They will die from their wounds.”
Israel’s order for evacuation
The Israeli forces have ordered the general public situation in the northern half of the Gaza Strip, including the Gaza City, to entirely evacuate the region as they are planning to wipe out the militant group – Hamas, which governs the territory.
Several reports have underscored that all hospitals in the northern territory have effectively stopped functioning.
Stats shared by the Health Ministry of Gaza
According to figures from the Gaza Health Ministry, as of November 16, nine of 35 hospitals in the enclave were partially working.
The death toll in the territory has increased up to 11,500 as of Friday, the health authorities confirmed, adding that out of the total, 4,700 were children.
The hospitals in the territory have been facing an overflow of patients and a shortage of supplies since the war began on October 7 – with Hamas’ surprise attack on the Israeli territory, killing around 1,400 Israeli population – as per the data shared by Israeli Health authorities.
As per Reuters, during an internet call, Abu Sitta stated, “Al Ahli was completely inundated with wounded. And we were operating all through the night (on Wednesday). And by the early hours (of Thursday)… we realized that we have basically run out of medication for the anesthetic machines and we had to stop the operating room.”
Furthermore, he expressed that he, along with his team, was busy in the past weeks in providing sufficient treatment to the patients who had sustained injuries during the Israeli air strike and after the raid of the Israeli Defence Force at the biggest hospital in Gaza City – al-Shifa.
In addition to this, he expressed that the doctors and other staff members have received a message that the al-Ahia hospital is also surrounded by Israeli tanks – which may be a sign of another raid.
According to the reports, Abu Sitta shared this experience about his five-hour walk to the refugee camp. He emphasized that the scenes were full of destruction and bodies were lying on the streets.
He also expressed, “Basically, the whole of northern Gaza now has no functioning hospital.” As per him, his plan is to rest. “We’ve been operating non-stop for the last week since Al Shifa (was surrounded). I just made the decision that I needed to sleep until I figure out what I wanted to do next,” he underscored, as per Reuters.
