More Gaza hospitals suspend operations

 
Two more major hospitals in Gaza closed to new patients on Sunday, with staff saying that Israeli bombardment plus lack of fuel and medicine means more babies and others could die.

Hospitals in the north of the Palestinian enclave are blockaded by Israeli forces and barely able to care for those inside, medical staff said, Reuters reports.Israel says it is homing in on Hamas militants in the area and the hospitals should be evacuated.
Gaza’s largest and second largest hospitals, Al Shifa and Al-Quds, said they are suspending operations.

With more people killed and wounded daily but half of the territory’s hospitals now out of action, there are ever fewer places for the injured.
“My son was injured and there was not a single hospital I could take him to so he could get stitches,” said Mr Ahmed al-Kahlout. He was fleeing south in accordance with Israeli advice while fearing that nowhere in Gaza was safe.The World Health Organization (WHO) has managed to restore communication with health professionals at Al Shifa, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday.

He said the situation is “dire and perilous” with constant gunfire and bombing exacerbating the already critical circumstances.
“Tragically, the number of patient fatalities has increased significantly,” he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Regrettably, the hospital is not functioning as a hospital anymore.”

WHO lost communication on Saturday and the Gaza health ministry said that operations at Al Shifa were suspended after it ran out of fuel.
“The world cannot stand silent while hospitals, which should be safe havens, are transformed into scenes of death, devastation, and despair,” the WHO chief said.The president of Indonesia, home to the world’s biggest Muslim population, also called for a ceasefire ahead of meeting US President Joe Biden in Washington on Monday.

“A ceasefire must be implemented soon, we also must accelerate and increase the amount of humanitarian aid, and we must begin peace negotiations,” President Joko Widodo said in a video recorded after he took part in an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Riyadh.
He said the world seemed “helpless” in the face of the suffering of the Palestinians.

The extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit also urged the International Criminal Court to investigate “war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing” in the Palestinian Territories.

A plastic surgeon in Al Shifa said bombing of the building housing incubators had forced them to line up premature babies on ordinary beds, using the little power available to turn the air-conditioning to warm.

“We are expecting to lose more of them day by day,” said Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati.
Israel says Hamas has placed command centres under and near the hospitals. Hamas has denied using hospitals in this way.