At least 274 killed, 700 injured in Israeli bombardment of Nuseirat refugee camp, according to local health authorities
With hundreds of patients awaiting help, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is struggling to provide medical attention to the victims of a deadly Israeli attack in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
At least 274 people were killed and nearly 700 others injured in Israeli bombardment of the camp on Saturday, according to local health authorities.
Hundreds of victims are left lying on the floor of the hospital with medics running to provide medical attention amid very limited medical resources.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is currently the only functioning medical facility in the central Gaza Strip.
“The large number of injured people arriving at the hospital exceeds its capacity,” Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of Gaza's Government Media Office, told Anadolu on Sunday.
“We urgently appeal to the international community, the UN and international organizations to intervene and support the hospital by providing medical supplies and electrical generators to ensure uninterrupted service delivery,” he said.
On Wednesday, the hospital said that one of its two generators had stopped due to lack of fuel.
This development signals a potential "humanitarian catastrophe" that could endanger the lives of numerous Palestinian patients and premature infants, it warned.
“The situation at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is dire and highly perilous. We demand an immediate cessation of the genocidal war against civilians,” Thawabta said.
The Palestinian official said that Israeli attacks have rendered 33 out of Gaza's 35 hospitals completely inoperable, resulting in “a profound humanitarian crisis.”
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and the European Hospital are the only two government-operated medical facilities still functioning in the Gaza Strip, according to the media office.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
More than 36,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
