UN operations ‘100 percent vital’ to Gaza’s hospitals
Dr Ali Elaydi, a Palestinian orthopaedic surgeon who worked in Gaza, said he was “heartbroken” by the news that the UN was having to interrupt its operations in the Palestinian enclave.
He told Al Jazeera that the UN’s operations were “100 percent vital to the functioning of hospitals in Gaza” as its staff coordinate the delivery of medical supplies as well as missions by foreign health workers.
He said the development leaves him feeling “more helpless than ever before”.
Elaydi, who worked at the European Hospital that has now been forced shut, also expressed concern over Israeli evacuation orders for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and recounted what it’s like when patients and health workers have to evacuate a medical facility.
“As an orthopaedic surgeon, I was told to enable these patients to be able to walk as soon as possible in fear that an evacuation would be coming because those patients who cannot walk, cannot leave the hospital,” Elaydi said.
“And so I literally saw patients’ family members dragging them miles from the hospital that was forced to evacuate to a different hospital because there is no capacity, there is no infrastructure to help get these patients out. So everyone relies on their patients and if they can’t walk, they’re being dragged.”
Palestinian patients fearing an Israeli ground operation are helped to flee Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip August 25
Premature babies evacuated from Al-Aqsa Hospital
A Palestinian premature baby is evacuated from Al-Aqsa Hospital after Israel issued evacuation orders for areas around the medical facility in Deir el-Balah, on August 26
The Reuters news agency reported that the babies would be transported to the Nasser Hospital in southern Khan Younis
Incubators at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital stand empty after the babies were evacuated
WFP sounds alarm over state of Gaza’s war-scarred roads
The World Food Programme is warning that most of Gaza’s heavily damaged roads will become unusable in the coming months when rain and flooding are expected in the Palestinian enclave.
“Alongside the desperate needs of today, we must think about what’s coming. We won’t be able to bring food to the people of Gaza unless urgent repairs are done on these roads,” said Antoine Renard, the WFP’s country director for Palestine.
“We must be able to bring in the heavy machinery that is needed and work with communities so we have the labour to fix the roads before the rain comes,” he added.
Palestinians make their way through a road with a puddle of wastewater as destroyed houses lie in ruins in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on August 5
North Gaza hospital director says Israel still preventing fuel entry to Gaza
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya says Israel wants to “destroy the health sector” by preventing fuel from reaching the Strip.
Giving an update on the situation at the hospital, he said most people who arrive wounded by Israeli attacks die due to poor conditions and lack of medical services. He also said Gaza is facing a “germ war” and demanded the institution of a vaccination programme.
Earlier this month, the Health Ministry in Gaza reported that it detected the first polio case in the besieged enclave after United Nations officials called for a pause in the fighting to enable a vaccination campaign for children against the virus.
