With Israeli tanks almost at the gates of Al-Shifa Hospital and besieging the complex, Ambassador of Palestine to India, Adnan Abu Alhaijaa, said Monday the hospital is “running out of fuel”, that six children on incubators have died, and another six have died in the Intensive Care Unit.
“The hospital is without any electricity, so there is no oxygen,” envoy Abu Alhaijaa told The Indian Express. “They are performing operations in a normal room, and on the floor, not in the operation theatre…because there is no electricity and the forces from three sides are besieging the hospital,” he said.
Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra, who was inside Al-Shifa Hospital, was quoted by wire agency Reuters as stating that 32 patients died in the past three days, including three newborn babies, as a result of the siege of the hospital and lack of power.
In its latest statement, the World Health Organisation said that over the past 48 hours, Al-Shifa Hospital — the largest medical complex in Gaza — has been reportedly attacked multiple times, leaving several people dead and many others injured. “The intensive care unit suffered damage from bombardment, while areas of the hospital where displaced people were sheltering have also been damaged,” it said.
According to Palestine’s envoy to India Abu Alhaijaa, about 7,000 people have sought refuge in the hospital as a safe shelter. People are on the floors in the hospital. This is not the only hospital which has been affected, he said. “In most of our hospitals in north Gaza … .there is no fuel,” he said.
Abu Alhaijaa said about 14,000 people have been killed so far; while about 11,300 of those killed are registered, there are around 3,000 who are under the rubble of the buildings.
When asked about his expectations from India in this situation, he said, “I am not expecting anything from India. I have called them many many times. They did nothing. So I’m not expecting anything from them.”
Pointing to the meeting of Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday, he said, “We have seen the India-US 2+2 statement where they are supporting Israel…So I’m not expecting anything from India.”
He said the Israelis made a “joke” when they said they will allow 300 litres of fuel, and reduced it further to 200 litres… this, he said, is “enough just half an hour for generator” because they need between 8,000 to 10,000 litres of petrol per day.
When asked about the progress on rescue efforts, Abu Alhaijaa, “There is no way to take them out of this rubble. There is no equipment. The war is not giving the people a chance even to search further. They can’t do anything because there is no equipment,” he said.
Reuters reported that Israeli tanks on Monday took up positions at the gates of Gaza City’s main hospital Al-Shifa, the primary target in their battle to seize control of the northern half of the Gaza Strip, where medics said patients including newborns were dying for lack of fuel.
At least 650 patients were still inside, desperate to be evacuated to another medical facility by the Red Cross or some other neutral agency. Israel says the hospital sits atop tunnels housing the headquarters of Hamas fighters, who are using patients as shields, which Hamas denies.
“The tanks are in front of the hospital. We are under full blockade. It’s a totally civilian area. Only hospital facilities, hospital patients, doctors, and other civilians are staying in the hospital. Someone should stop this,” a surgeon at the hospital, Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati, said by telephone to Reuters.
“They bombed the (water) tanks, they bombed the water wells, they bombed the oxygen pump as well. They bombed everything in the hospital. So we are hardly surviving. We tell everyone, the hospital is no longer a safe place for treating patients. We are harming patients by keeping them here,” he said.
There was also fresh concern that the war could spread beyond Gaza, with an upsurge of clashes on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, and the United States launching air strikes on Iran-linked militia targets in neighbouring Syria.
Israel launched its campaign in October to annihilate Hamas, the militant group which runs the Gaza Strip, after Hamas fighters went on a rampage through southern Israel killing civilians. Around 1,200 people died and 240 were dragged to Gaza as hostages according to Israel’s tally, in the deadliest day in its 75-year history.
Since then, thousands of Gazans have been killed and two thirds of the population made homeless by a relentless Israeli military campaign. Israel has ordered a total evacuation of the northern half of Gaza. Gaza medical authorities said more than 11,000 people have been confirmed killed, around 40 per cent of them being children.
Since Israeli ground forces entered Gaza late October and quickly surrounded Gaza City, fighting has been concentrated in a tightening circle around Al-Shifa, the enclave’s biggest hospital.
Fighting also took place at a second major hospital in northern Gaza, al-Quds, which has also stopped functioning. The Palestinian Red Crescent said the hospital was surrounded by heavy gunfire, and a convoy sent to evacuate patients and staff had been unable to reach it.
Palestinian Ambassador to India, Adnan Abu Alhaijaa 
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