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All but one of the hospitals in the north of Gaza have stopped functioning, according to the UN, as Israel’s war against Hamas deepens a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.
Hospitals in Gaza have gradually been forced to stop operating over the past two weeks as Israeli forces advance deep into the enclave and severely restrict supplies of fuel, water and food to the besieged territory.
The health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that 170 Palestinians had been buried in a mass grave in the courtyard of the al-Shifa hospital, the biggest medical facility in Gaza, as a result of the “difficulty of burying them” elsewhere “because of the siege imposed on it from all sides”.
A doctor at al-Ahli, the only hospital still working in the north of the besieged strip, said on Tuesday that surgery there on “all injuries up to the moderate level” was being done without anaesthesia as supplies were on the “verge of depletion”.
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“The pain experienced by the patients during the surgical interventions without anaesthesia is beyond what humanity on this earth can endure,” Fadel Naim, a doctor from the hospital, wrote on social media platform X.
The UN’s humanitarian arm said 32 patients — including three premature babies — had died at al-Shifa since Saturday as a result of the loss of power and “dire conditions” at the hospital. Mohamed Abu Silmeyeh, its director, warned on Saturday that medics were having to wrap babies in cellophane to keep them alive after incubators stopped working due to the lack of power.
Patients in intensive care at al-Shifa were dying due to a lack of oxygen, said Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati on Tuesday
Israel claims al-Shifa is a significant site for Hamas’s operations because it sits on top of the armed group’s underground infrastructure that the Israeli military intends to destroy, and has denied it is being besieged.
Doctors at the Gaza City hospital have denied that it is a military base, and say thousands of patients, medical personnel and civilians are sheltering there, under constant fire from snipers and drones. Hamas says 40 patients have died in recent days, including three premature babies whose incubators were shut down when power went out.
Five weeks after Israel swore to destroy Hamas in retaliation for a cross-border assault by militants, the fate of the encircled hospital has become a focus of international alarm, including from Israel’s closest ally, the United States.
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Ashraf Al-Qidra, Gaza’s health ministry spokesman, reached by telephone inside the hospital compound, said there were about 100 bodies decomposing inside and no way to get them out.
“We are planning to bury them today in a mass grave inside the al-Shifa medical complex. It is going to be very dangerous as we don’t have any cover or protection from the ICRC, but we have no other options the corpses of the martyrs began to decompose,” he said. “The men are digging right now as we speak.”
Thirty-six babies are left from the neonatal ward after three died. Without fuel for generators to power incubators, the babies were being kept warm as best as possible, lined up eight to a bed.
Israel announced on Tuesday that it was offering portable, battery-powered incubators so the babies could be moved. But Mr Qidra said that so far no arrangements had been established to carry out any such evacuation.
“We have no objection to have the babies being moved to any hospital, in Egypt, the West Bank or even to the occupation [Israeli] hospitals. What we care most about is the wellbeing and the lives of those babies,” he said.
“The occupation is still besieging the hospital and they are firing into the yards from time to time. We still can’t move around, but sometimes doctors are taking the risk when they need to attend to patients.”
Israel denies the hospital is under siege and says its forces allow routes for those inside to exit. Medics and officials inside the hospital say this is not true and those trying to leave have come under fire. Reuters could not verify the situation independently.
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Israel’s military on Tuesday confirmed the death of a soldier held captive in Gaza after Hamas issued video of her alive followed by images of what the Palestinian faction said was her body after she was killed in an Israeli strike.
It appeared to be the first time Israel has confirmed such a claim by Hamas, which in the past has said that dozens of hostages from its October 7th attack on Israeli border villages and army bases had died or were missing due to the ensuing Gaza war.
In the Hamas video, disseminated on social media on Monday, Noa Marciano identified herself on camera and said she had been held in Gaza for four days – indicating it was taped on October 11th.
The video then shows still pictures of a young woman of similar appearance lying, looking sallow and with her eyes closed, on a bloodstained bedsheet. A close-up image shows a bloody head wound.
A caption said Ms Marciano (19), was killed “in an air strike by the Zionist enemy” last Thursday.
The military statement did not comment on the circumstances of Ms Marciano’s death other than to describe her as an “abductee fatality in the hands of a terrorist organisation”. It said she had served as a conscripted private in the border defence corps
Israel vowed to wipe out Hamas after the militant group’s fighters burst across the fence around the enclave and rampaged through Israeli towns killing civilians on October 7th. Israeli says 1,200 people were killed and about 240 were dragged back to Gaza as hostages in the deadliest day of its 75-year history.
But its response, including a total siege and constant bombardment of the small, densely populated enclave that has killed many thousands of civilians, has alarmed countries around the world. Israel says Hamas is to blame for harm to civilians because fighters hide among them; Hamas denies this.
Medical officials in Hamas-run Gaza say more than 11,000 people are confirmed dead from Israeli strikes, around 40 per cent of them children, and countless others are trapped under rubble. About two thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been made homeless, unable to escape the crowded territory where food, fuel, fresh water and medical supplies are running out.
Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati, a surgeon, speaking from al-Shifa hospital, said the main risk now was from dead bodies decomposing inside.
“We are sure that all kind of infections will be transmitted from that one. Today we had a little bit of rain ... It was really horrible, nobody could even open a window, or just walk around the corridors with a really bad smell,” he said.
“Burying 120 bodies needs a lot of equipment, it can’t be by hand efforts and by single person efforts. It will take hours and hours to be able to bury all these bodies.”
He said doctors had performed surgery on Monday without any oxygen, which made general anaesthesia impossible.
Israeli forces launched a ground offensive into Gaza at the end of October and have since closed their circle around al-Shifa. In recent days the encirclement of the hospital has appeared to unsettle even Israel’s closest allies.
“My hope and expectation is that there will be less intrusive action relative to hospitals and we remain in contact with the Israelis,” US president Joe Biden said on Monday.
“Also there is an effort to get this pause to deal with the release of prisoners and that’s being negotiated, as well, with the Qataris ... being engaged,” he added. “So I remain somewhat hopeful, but hospitals must be protected.”
On Monday, Israel’s military released video and photos of what it said were weapons Hamas had stored in the basement of another hospital, Rantissi, specialising in cancer treatment for children. Hamas said the images were staged.
The armed wing of Hamas said it was ready to free up to 70 women and children held in Gaza in exchange for a five-day ceasefire. Al-Qassam Brigade spokesman Abu Ubaida said the group had offered to release 50 captives and the total could reach 70, including captives held by separate factions, while Israel had asked for 100 to be freed.
Israel has rejected a ceasefire, arguing that Hamas would use it to regroup, but says it could agree to brief humanitarian “pauses”.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Washington would “like to see considerably longer pauses – days, not hours – in the context of a hostage release.” – Financial Times/Reuters