The World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded the alarm over the precarious state of hospital provision in southern and central Gaza, expressing deep concern about the potential collapse of medical services in the region. The ongoing military campaign against Hamas, initiated in response to the Oct. 7 attacks, has left Gaza’s hospitals battered and struggling to function. After months of Israeli bombardments, only around a third of the hospitals in Gaza are operational, and some are only partially so.
The recent intensification of hostilities in central and southern areas has further strained the already overburdened hospitals that remain open. WHO officials have particularly highlighted the worrying situation around Al Aqsa Hospital and the European Gaza Hospital, as well as the proximity of hostilities to Nasser Hospital. Sean Casey, the WHO emergency medical teams coordinator in Gaza, voiced his concerns during a Geneva press briefing via video link, emphasizing the critical need to protect these health facilities.
“These health facilities must be protected. This is the last line of secondary and tertiary health care that Gaza has – from the north to the south, it’s been dropping, hospital after hospital,” Casey emphasized. He revealed that, during a recent visit to Al Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, he found that 70% of the staff had abandoned their posts. The same night, hundreds of patients who were well enough to leave followed suit, fleeing for their lives amid the ongoing fighting.
In the city of Khan Younis, where Nasser Hospital is located, many staff members have sought refuge in shelters along with hundreds of thousands of other Gazans. This has left the hospital with a severe shortage of medical personnel, including just one doctor for over 100 burn victims. Casey painted a bleak picture of the health system, stating, “What we continue to see is the health system suffering – health workers unable to go to their workplace to care for patients because they fear for their lives… Patients who fear and their families who fear going to the hospital because they may die on the way.”
The WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Rik Peeperkorn, echoed these concerns during the same briefing. He highlighted the increasingly challenging environment for WHO to make medical deliveries inside Gaza, citing a “complex and shrinking humanitarian space” due to hostilities moving south and a lack of access.
The gravity of the situation in Gaza reflects the urgent need for international attention and intervention to address the collapsing health system. The impact on both medical personnel and patients, who are risking their lives to seek medical assistance, underscores the severe humanitarian crisis unfolding in the region. The international community must unite to find a swift and peaceful resolution to the conflict, allowing for the delivery of essential medical aid and the protection of vital health facilities in Gaza. The deteriorating situation demands a collective effort to safeguard the well-being of the civilian population caught in the crossfire of this devastating conflict.
