Patients Losing Lives As ‘Israeli’ Forces Attack Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital

By Agencies

In latest reports, a large number of displaced Palestinians were martyred and wounded after some of them tried to leave the campus of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, being attacked and besieged by the ‘Israeli’ occupation.

The Zionist regime’s fighter jets and tanks have been shelling the area outside the hospital from around 9 pm local time on Friday and into Saturday morning without a pause, putting the lives of some 15,000 Palestinian patients and civilians sheltering inside at risk.

Some departments and the yard of the medical complex, the biggest in Gaza, have been directly hit, health officials have said.

The targeted attacks have led to a fire inside the complex. The intensive care and pediatric departments have stopped working, according to Ashraf Al-Qidra, the spokesperson of the Palestinian Health Ministry.

"We are besieged inside the Al-Shifa medical complex," Al-Qidra said in a statement. "We can say that the Al-Shifa medical complex has stopped working and is out of service."

At around 6 am local time [4 am GMT], power was completely cut off from the hospital, leaving patients on life support at high risk of death at any moment. There is also no water, no food and internet inside the hospital.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said one premature baby hooked to incubators has already died. A total of 39 other babies face the same fate in the coming hours if power is not immediately restored, doctors inside the hospital have warned.

The lack of power is also affecting dozens of patients on life support. One person has already died as ventilators stop working.

"Thousands are trapped inside the complex, including patients, medical staff, first responders and civil defense personnel," Muhammad Abu Salima, the director of Al-Shifa hospital, told Al Jazeera.

"We are hours away from death, and the world is watching us die, but we are not numbers," Abu Salima said.

Meanwhile, ‘Israeli’ snipers and armed drones have been targeting anyone moving between the different hospital buildings.