In a video message, the hospital’s director Dr. Husssam Abu Safiya confirmed that the severing of the hospital’s oxygen supply due to the Israeli attack, caused a newborn baby’s heart to stop.
The Israeli military renewed its attack on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on Friday night with drones and artillery shells, following an earlier attack that damaged the electricity generator on which the entire hospital relies.
At least four hospital staff, including two doctors, were injured in that attack, according to reports.
As a result of the attack, “the oxygen system is out of service,” the World Health Organization said, adding that “due to the ongoing hostilities and severely restricted access, the hospital is unable to repair it.”
“The water tank also sustained damage and currently there is no water available at the hospital,” said WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
ICU Patients
Ghebreyesus confirmed that “four hospital staff and two patient companions sustained injuries” in the attack.
“WHO is deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of 80 patients, including 8 in the intensive care unit, and staff inside the hospital,” he stressed.
According to Aljazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif the situation at the hospital “is very dangerous.”
الوضع في مستشفى كمال عدوان خطير جدًا
الأطباء الذين كانوا يتناوبون على خدمة أبناء شعبهم، وجدوا أنفسهم فجأة يتناوبون على إسعاف بعضهم البعض. في الصورة الأولى، يظهر الطبيب نهاد غنيم وهو يسعف زميله سعيد جودة، وبعد ساعة أصيب غنيم ليقوم زميل آخر بمحاولة إسعافه.
خلال الساعة الأخيرة فقط،… pic.twitter.com/AZy2jkSVVX— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) November 22, 2024
He published a photo on X showing Dr. Nihad Ghoneim being treated by a colleague after he was injured in Friday night’s attack.
Al-Sharif said Israeli forces had “targeted the hospital with 10 bombs dropped from drones, in addition to a number of artillery shells.”
Plea to WHO, World Bodies
In a video message on Friday, the hospital’s director Dr. Husssam Abu Safiya confirmed that the severing of the hospital’s oxygen supply due to the Israeli attack, caused a newborn baby’s heart to stop.
“The severing of the supply to the ICU led to a child’s heart stopping, a hospitalized newborn child,” Dr. Abu Safiya said.
“We were able to perform resuscitation and currently we are using (oxygen) cylinders instead of using the direct oxygen network,” he added.
Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, the Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, describes the catastrophic conditions threatening the lives of patients and the injured due to the ongoing attacks targeting the hospital amidst a severe Israeli siege on northern Gaza for more than 47… pic.twitter.com/aU1m62568s
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) November 22, 2024
The hospital “currently has more than 85 injuries, 8 of which are in the ICU,” the doctor continued, including newborn babies in the ICU.
“None of the problems I was talking about were addressed, we were not even promised anything…to break through this oppressive and unjust path imposed on the northern Gaza Strip, ” Dr. Abu Safiya emphasized in his message.
“We asked the world and we are still asking the World Health Organization, international organizations and institutions, and humanitarian institutions for an urgent intervention, to open up a safe and humanitarian corridor which would allow the entry of all that is needed … so that we are able to continue providing a humanitarian service for the injured and wounded.”
Hospitals Partially Functioning
According to the WHO, Kamal Adwan is one of the only two partially functioning hospitals in northern Gaza.
For his part, Ghebreyesus urged “an immediate end to hostilities in the vicinity of the hospital and sustained access for humanitarian missions to provide lifesaving support.”
Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern #Gaza was drone attacked last night, causing damage to the electricity generator on which the entire hospital relies. As a result, the oxygen system is out of service. Due to the ongoing hostilities and severely restricted access, the hospital… pic.twitter.com/lllP1OkzFX
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 22, 2024
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
Staggering Death Toll
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,056 Palestinians have, to date, been killed, and 104,268 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Over 100 Killed in 24 Hours – Israel’s Massacres in Gaza Continue
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
Acute Famine
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
Finding food is a mission impossible in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/PMeF5RRC1g
— Hind Khoudary (@Hind_Gaza) November 21, 2024
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
