A Palestinian man wounded in an Israeli strike is rushed into Nasser Hospital, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Doctors in Gaza have been forced to leave patients screaming for hours as they operate on them without anaesthesia due to the shortage of painkillers and other supplies.
The airstrikes in Gaza hospitals have "depleted an already under-resourced system", health agencies told BBC.
While the World Health Organisation used the phrase “beyond words” to describe the state of healthcare in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) accused Hamas of using hospitals to execute "terror activities".
"We're missing anaesthetics, supplies for the ICU, antibiotics and lastly painkillers," Dr al-Akkad told the publication. "There are a lot of people who were severely burnt… we don't have any suitable painkillers for them."
Pointing out the difficulties, the doctors explained that patients are brought to hospitals on horses and donkeys, and they have to perform surgeries wearing head torches in the absence of electricity.
"The catastrophe is when the patients' wounds are rotting, as the wounds have been open for more than two or three weeks," the report quoted a doctor as saying.
The publication noted that twenty-three hospitals in Gaza are not functioning at all, while twelve are partially functioning and one is operating minimally.
Nasser Hospital, which was until late the Gaza Strip's second-largest functioning medical facility, has been put "completely out of service", a spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry said on Sunday.
"There are only four medical staffers currently caring for patients" inside the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, Ashraf al-Qidra told Reuters.
"The Nasser medical complex is the backbone of healthcare in southern Gaza Strip. Its ceasing to function is a death sentence for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian displaced people in Khan Younis and Rafah," he said.
Qidra said a lack of fuel and fighting around the facility had put it out of action.
Nasser Hospital was Gaza's largest functioning hospital until Sunday and had been under siege this week in Israel's conflict with the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Israeli forces raided the hospital on Thursday.
Additionally, several hospitals in Gaza are overcrowded, with reports indicating that some are operating at 300 percent over their bed capacity.
Meanwhile, the United Nations' top court will commence a week of hearings on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories today, with more than 50 states scheduled to address the judges.
(With Reuters inputs)