Gaza

The World Health Organization said Thursday that northern Gaza was without functioning hospitals due to a lack of fuel, personnel and supplies. “Only nine out of 36 health centres are partially functioning in all of Gaza. They are all located in the southern part of the area, according to a press release from the WHO. “There are really no functioning hospitals left in the north,” said Richard Peeperkorn, a WHO representative in Gaza. “The Al-Ahli hospital was the last thing left, but it is now also minimally functioning. There are still patients undergoing treatment, but no new patients are being taken in.
     Peeperkorn says that only the shell of the hospital remains, and that it resembles an institution for terminally ill and dying patients, where curative treatment is abandoned while some palliative help is provided with limited resources. “Until two days ago, there was only the hospital where injured people could get help from surgeons, and it was overloaded with patients who needed first aid,” he says. “But there are now no longer operating rooms that function due to shortages of fuel, medicine, electricity and personnel — including surgeons and other specialists,” Peeperkorn said. /ritzau/Reuters/