Gaza Strip: UN dismay at horror inside al-Chifa hospital
It was the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. Today it is a field of ruins. After two weeks of siege, Israeli forces withdrew from the al-Chifa hospital compound, used, according to Tel Aviv, as a military base by Hamas. Witnesses on site speak of hundreds of decomposing corpses all around the hospital. At the UN, there is consternation.
Inside the al-Chifa hospital compound in Gaza after Israeli forces withdrew, April 2, 2024. REUTERS - Dawoud Abu Alkas
By: RFI with AFP
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On Monday April 1, after 18 days of operations, Israeli troops withdrew from the al-Chifa hospital complex in
Gaza,
leaving behind immense destruction and corpses.
The army said it had “
killed more than 200 terrorists and arrested more than 900 people
” and accused Hamas of having used the hospital as a “
command center
”.
Gaza Civil Defense reported 300 deaths in and around the hospital in
Israeli
operations . The human cost for civilians is appalling, admits Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson, speaking to our correspondent in Geneva,
Jérémie Lanche
: “
We know that at least 21 patients died during the siege. There was no more food, no more water: they had to share a bottle for 15 people. There were no more toilets. There were patients in intensive care who had urinary catheters but there were no more bags available, so you can imagine the horror...
"
A horror that continues for the other few hospitals still standing. Kamal Adwan's receives around fifteen malnourished children every day. Without food for babies and their mothers, infant mortality is exploding in Gaza. And it will be worse now that al-Chifa is gone. “
Destroying al-Chifa is tearing out the heart of the health system in Gaza,”
continues Margaret Harris.
It was a huge hospital: 750 beds, 25 operating rooms, 30 intensive care rooms… It was the place where people went to be well cared for.
»
In the area around al-Chifa hospital in Gaza City, April 1, 2024. REUTERS - Dawoud Abu Alkas
Read alsoThe Israeli army left the al-Chifa hospital in Gaza
Should we stay in Gaza?
After the death of seven more humanitarian workers in an Israeli strike, the question also arises for UN agencies. Should we stay in Gaza? Or evacuate targeted personnel, even when their movements have been communicated to the army? Since the start of the war, several NGOs present in Gaza have claimed that their employees or sites had been hit by Israeli strikes.
Due to the difficulty of bringing humanitarian aid by land into the territory under Israeli blockade, a first humanitarian aid boat reached Gaza from Cyprus in mid-March. But a second boat, the
Jennifer
, which was close to the Gaza coast, turned around and returned to its starting point with nearly 240 tons of undelivered food, after the strike which led to the suspension of WCK activities .
Nearly 30,000 people, most of them civilians, were killed in Israeli operations, punctuated by incessant bombardments, the Hamas health ministry said.
Read alsoGaza: the international community criticizes Israel after the strike which killed seven humanitarian workers
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