Latest news with #EuropeanGazaHospital
Muscat Daily
24-05-2025
- Health
- Muscat Daily
Gaza health system at breaking point: WHO
Gaza City, Palestine – Gaza's healthcare system is on the verge of collapse amid intensified Israeli military operations, widespread displacement and critical shortages of basic supplies, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday. Only 19 of the territory's 36 hospitals are still partially functioning, WHO said, and many are struggling to provide even emergency services. 'At least 94% of all hospitals in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed,' the UN health agency said in a statement. Four major facilities – Kamal Adwan, Indonesian Hospital, Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics, and European Gaza Hospital – have suspended services in recent days due to attacks or their location within evacuation zones. WHO recorded 28 attacks on health facilities in Gaza in the past week alone, bringing the total to 697 since fighting began in October 2023. 'The increased hostilities and new evacuation orders in northern and southern Gaza threaten to push even more health facilities out of service,' the agency warned. Facilities at risk include one hospital, 11 primary care centres and 13 medical points inside newly declared evacuation zones. Five other hospitals, a field hospital and dozens of other facilities lie within 1km of these areas. In North Gaza, health services have been largely wiped out. Al Awda Hospital remains only minimally operational, serving as a trauma stabilisation point. It has come under repeated attacks, with WHO reporting that its third and fourth floors were hit again on Friday, injuring health workers and destroying medical supplies. 'Patient triage tents, including one provided by WHO, caught fire, which also burned all medical supplies in the warehouse and destroyed vehicles in the basement,' the agency said. The Indonesian Hospital is out of service due to an ongoing military presence since May 18. Kamal Adwan Hospital – the only facility treating children with severe acute malnutrition in the north – ceased operations on May 20 after intense shelling in the area. In southern Gaza, Nasser Medical Complex, Al Amal and Al Aqsa hospitals are overwhelmed following a surge of wounded and mass displacement to Deir al Balah and Khan Younis. The European Gaza Hospital has remained shut since a strike on May 13, cutting off critical services such as neurosurgery, cardiac care and cancer treatment. Across Gaza, only 2,000 hospital beds remain for more than 2mn people. At least 40 beds are located in hospitals now inside evacuation zones and could be lost immediately. A further 850 are at risk if conditions worsen at nearby facilities, WHO said.
Roya News
18-05-2025
- Health
- Roya News
'Israeli' forces besiege Indonesian Hospital with drones, targeting Intensive Care Unit
'Israeli' forces besieged the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza starting at dawn. Using drones, 'Israeli' troops fired live rounds at anyone moving around the hospital's vicinity. Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, the hospital director, reported to local media that the 'Israeli' forces targeted the intensive care unit with gunfire, forcing the interruption of a surgery underway on a patient. Another patient was injured by the gunfire near the hospital. The Gaza Ministry of Health warned that the attack on the Indonesian Hospital followed the recent shutdown of the European Gaza Hospital and cautioned about a potential collapse of healthcare services in northern Gaza. The ministry added that panic and confusion among patients, the wounded, and medical staff are severely disrupting emergency care, with two patients injured while attempting to leave the hospital. The siege is also preventing wounded civilians from accessing medical care as the number of massacres in northern Gaza rises. The Ministry described this as part of a systematic campaign by Israeli forces to target and disable hospitals. UNRWA stated in a recent report that more than 250 Palestinians were killed in Gaza over the past two days alone. The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that 'Israeli' forces are besieging the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, shooting live rounds at anyone moving inside or near its grounds. They also noted that 'Israeli' drones targeted the intensive care unit and wounded a patient in the hospital's vicinity. Similar dire conditions are reported at Al-Awda Hospital in Tel al-Zaatar, east of Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza. Meanwhile, Kuwait Specialized Field Hospital in Khan Younis announced on Saturday the suspension of its surgical operations indefinitely due to extensive damage caused by Israeli shelling nearby. The attack disabled the hospital's generators, main power control panel, and severely damaged most departments. The hospital called on international organizations and relevant bodies to urgently protect medical facilities and respect international law prohibiting attacks on hospitals. Two days ago, the World Health Organization reported that more than 10,000 patients, including 4,500 children, urgently need medical evacuation. Since October 7, 2023, 'Israeli' forces have been committing what the UN and human rights groups describe as genocide in Gaza, killing or injuring approximately 174,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, with over 11,000 missing.
Arab News
16-05-2025
- Health
- Arab News
British doctor releases footage of aftermath of Israeli strike on Gaza hospital
LONDON: A British doctor in Gaza has released footage showing the devastation caused by an Israeli airstrike on the European Gaza Hospital near the southern city of Khan Younis on Thursday. Dr. Tom Potokar, a consultant plastic surgeon, shared the video with the BBC, documenting the aftermath of an attack by Israel on the facility. Six bombs were dropped on the hospital, killing 28 people. Potokar, who has traveled to Gaza 16 times to provide vital treatment to Palestinians trapped in the enclave, described the footage as a 'snapshot' of his experience working at the hospital. In the video, he described an 'absolutely massive strike … right in front of the emergency room,' as people ran and lay on the ground outside the hospital. 'Shrapnel everywhere. Devastation right in the forecourt of the hospital. Absolutely terrible,' he said in the footage. In further scenes described as 'absolute mayhem,' Potokar walked through the corridors of the hospital as medics, patients and other civilians tried to respond to the attack. 'It's a direct hit on the hospital,' he said, as screams echoed in the background and smoke billowed through the building. Standing outside an operating theater, Potokar then turned the camera on himself to survey the damage, and said the facility was 'too dangerous' to take people to be operated on, and staff were leaving to find shelter. He later reported that the hospital had been entirely evacuated. Potokar told the BBC: 'We've been treating patients with huge open wounds, some even with maggots in, infected, multiple amputations, children down to the age of two with significant nerve injuries, traumatic brain injuries.' At least 114 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza on Thursday, according to local authorities.
Saba Yemen
15-05-2025
- Health
- Saba Yemen
Health : Gaza European Hospital Out of Service because of Israeli Attacks
Gaza - (Saba): The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the European Gaza Hospital has gone out of service due to recent Israeli attacks. In a press statement published on its Telegram channel, the ministry explained that the strikes caused severe damage to the hospital's infrastructure, including sewage lines, internal departments, and access roads. It stated that the repeated targeting of the hospital has made it impossible to provide medical care due to the danger posed to medical teams, the wounded, and patients. The ministry noted that the shutdown of the hospital means a halt to critical specialized services such as neurosurgery, thoracic surgery, cardiac catheterization, cardiovascular surgery, and ophthalmology — services that are only available at the European Gaza Hospital. It added that the hospital is the only facility currently providing medical follow-up for cancer patients in Gaza, following the destruction of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital. Its closure deprives cancer patients of access to life-saving treatment protocols, worsening their already critical health conditions. The hospital previously housed 28 intensive care beds, 12 neonatal incubators, 260 inpatient beds, 25 emergency beds, and 60 beds dedicated to oncology patients — all of which are now out of service. On Tuesday evening, the Israeli army committed a horrific massacre, killing 34 Palestinians and injuring dozens in a series of heavy airstrikes that targeted the European Gaza Hospital and its surroundings in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. According to separate statements by the Ministry of Health and Civil Defense in Gaza, reported by Anadolu Agency, six Palestinians were killed inside the hospital and 28 others died in a nearby home belonging to the Al-Afghani family, due to intense fire belts that struck the hospital and its surroundings. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
Boston Globe
14-05-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Strike on hospital highlights Israeli attacks on Gaza health system
Even in a war that has decimated Gaza's health sector, Israel has rarely launched as powerful an attack on a health complex as the one that damaged the European Gaza Hospital on Tuesday. The Israeli military said it had been targeting a Hamas command center underneath the complex, and Israeli officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to divulge sensitive details said the specific target was Mohammed Sinwar, the senior Hamas commander. Advertisement Imad al-Hout, the hospital's director, said in a phone interview that the strikes, which he said were conducted without warning, had damaged walls and pipes, cut off the water supply, put the hospital out of service, and forced most of the 200 patients to evacuate. Al-Hout denied that Hamas fighters operated inside the hospital complex, adding that he did not believe the group had dug tunnels beneath it, though he could not definitively rule it out. Advertisement For human rights campaigners and international watchdogs, attacks on medical facilities have fueled accusations that Israel is conducting a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in part by wrecking their health system. A woman in a hospital bed was assisted following an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. -/AFP via Getty Images By early May, the World Health Organization had recorded 686 attacks on health facilities in Gaza since the start of the war. Those attacks have damaged at least 33 of Gaza's 36 hospitals, according to the WHO, and at one point had rendered at least 19 of them inoperable; five have since returned to service. A United Nations committee of inquiry concluded in September that such attacks collectively constituted 'a concerted policy to destroy the health-care system of Gaza.' For Israel and its defenders, who strongly deny the claims of genocide, such attacks are a necessary and legal response to Hamas's use of hospitals for military purposes. Israel says that Hamas routinely uses hospitals, and tunnels and shelters beneath them, as command centers, hiding places, and weapons stores. Hamas strongly denies it does so, but Israeli officials say the group has essentially turned Gaza's health sector into a civilian shield for military activity. 'The use of hospitals for terror purposes is one of Hamas's core operating methods,' the Israeli military said in a post on its website, which a spokesperson cited in lieu of a comment for this article. 'The terror infrastructure in the hospitals is meant to ensure optimal protection for Hamas terrorists during times of war,' it added. Interviews with Hamas members and Israeli soldiers operating in Gaza, along with other evidence, have shown that Hamas has used some medical facilities to conceal entrances leading to its vast military tunnel network, store weapons, and station militants. Palestinians have also reported seeing Hamas fighters operating within health facilities, both in this war and in previous conflicts. Advertisement In March 2024, a group of militants made a last stand inside Shifa, a major hospital in Gaza City, leading to a dayslong battle with the Israeli military. Under the international rules of conflict, hospitals are considered protected sites that should not be attacked except in rare circumstances. The use of a hospital for military purposes may make it a legitimate target, but only if the risk to civilians is proportional to the military advantage created by the attack. In addition, the law states that the attacking force must give advance warning of a strike on a hospital, which the Israeli military did not do before its strike at the European Gaza Hospital. 'If Hamas uses a hospital to shield a military command and control center, that is a violation of international humanitarian law, and it can in principle mean that the hospital loses its automatic protection from attack,' said Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne, an expert on the laws of armed conflict at the University of Bristol in England. 'But Israel is obligated under the Fourth Geneva Convention to give a warning before attacking the hospital to allow civilians to evacuate,' Hill-Cawthorne said. 'And an attack would still be unlawful if it causes disproportionate civilian harm.' Palestinians inspected the site of an Israeli army airstrike on the European hospital in Khan Younis. Mariam Dagga/Associated Press International law experts say that assessments of likely civilian harm must consider a strike's effect on a region's wider health system, rather than on only the affected hospital. In Gaza, where so many health centers are damaged or out of use, that makes it much harder to find legal justification for attacks on hospitals, according to Janina Dill, an expert on the laws of armed conflict at the University of Oxford. Advertisement 'I struggle to see what anticipated military advantage could render any attack against a hospital in Gaza right now proportionate,' Dill said. The Israeli military declined to comment on the lack of a warning before the strike on the European Gaza Hospital. An Israeli military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said that the military had assessed the legality of the strike and concluded that it was acting according to international law. This article originally appeared in .
