The UN health agency and its partners have delivered aid, including fuel, to the devastated Al-Shifa hospital, once the largest and most advanced medical facility in Gaza, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said late Sunday.
Palestinians line up to receive free meals in Rafah, Gaza Strip, December 21, 2023. Photo: AP
What the WHO delegation saw was “growing desperation due to severe hunger,” said Tedros. “Partners are demanding an immediate scale-up of food and water to ensure the health and stability of people.”
He hopes the delivery of 19,200 litres of generator fuel on Saturday will help restore vital services at the hospital, which can currently only provide “the most basic first aid”. But, he stressed, “much more will be needed”.
Al-Shifa hospital officials said the facility suffered significant damage and oxygen machines were destroyed. The hospital is currently providing shelter for about 50,000 evacuees.
Sean Casey, coordinator of the WHO Health Emergency Team who is on the mission, described the surgical wards as overcrowded and unable to assess Al-Shifa's operating rooms "because there are always people inside and they don't open the doors".
At the same time, “everyone we talked to was hungry,” Casey said in a video shot inside Al-Shifa with a crowd of evacuees, mostly children, in the background.
“In a context of severe food shortages, the search for food is pushing people into dire situations of hunger,” said Mr. Tedros.
The WHO chief warned that the dire situation in Al-Shifa was "a miniature nightmare unfolding across Gaza, where there are severe shortages of medicine, food, electricity, water...".
“Hospitals should be places of care and recovery, not places of danger and unrelenting suffering,” said Director-General Tedros. He reiterated his call for a ceasefire and stressed the need for “sustained humanitarian access.”
Mai Anh (according to CNA)
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