Gaza Hospitals Forced into Turning Off Ventilators to Make Room For ‘Unprecedented’ Number of Wounded

By The Independent

Gaza’s healthcare system is “collapsing” and overflowing hospitals are just “days away” from completely running out of supplies amid the most ferocious ‘Israeli’ bombardment ever recorded, Palestinian officials have warned.

Intensive care units [ICUs] across the tiny enclave are beyond capacity, forcing doctors to switch off life-support machines for patients deemed “hopeless cases”. They are doing this to make way for the “unprecedented” influx of newly wounded, Gaza’s deputy health minister has said.

“In our religion and ethics, we shouldn’t do this, but we have no choice,” Dr Yusuf Abu al-Reesh added.

‘Israel’ imposed a “total siege” on the tiny enclave after Hamas launched a surprise operation on Saturday.

Rights groups have warned that the decision to impose a siege on the enclave, which is home to more than 2 million people, constitutes collective punishment and is a violation of international law.

However, ‘Israeli’ energy minister, ‘Israel’ Katz, doubled down on Thursday, saying that nothing would be allowed into Gaza. The Zionist military, meanwhile, said it was ramping up its heaviest bombardment of the strip. More than 1,500 Palestinian civilians have been martyred in the onslaught, half of them women and children. More than 6,600 have been injured.

The combination is creating a “humanitarian catastrophe”, United Nations officials have warned. As the wounded poured in, Gaza’s health ministry officials said that hospitals, including al-Shifa, the largest in the enclave, had just “days left of supplies.”

Stocks of vital medicines for emergency departments, such as fluids, bandages and surgical instruments, are said to be running out. Water is in such short supply that doctors at al-Shifa have resorted to using an old well.

“We expanded the hospital by 50 per cent, but even that is full, and we are treating people under a tent in the street,” said deputy health minister Dr. Abu al-Reesh from the medical complex in the heart of Gaza City, with desperation in his voice. He shared photos of children, drenched in blood, being treated four to a stretcher on the floor.

“There are no places in the ICU. So, for the first time, we have to switch off ICU machines for cases which the doctors believe are hopeless, to make space for those who might have a chance of surviving,” he told The Independent. “We are collapsing.”

The United Nations’ Palestinian refugee aid agency, UNRWA, is meanwhile frantically negotiating with countries around the world to secure a humanitarian corridor. The UN is currently sheltering 220,000 displaced people in 98 of its schools, but their water supply will run out in a few days. Terrified families in Gaza told The Independent on Thursday that they had received leaflets dropped from ‘Israeli’ aircraft telling them to evacuate, but they didn't know where to go.

Gaza was already short on supplies before the latest conflict erupted, as it has been subject to a 16-year siege imposed by ‘Israel’ and Egypt.