Current:Home > BackWater runs out at UN shelters in Gaza. Medics fear for patients as Israeli ground offensive looms-LoTradeCoin
Water runs out at UN shelters in Gaza. Medics fear for patients as Israeli ground offensive looms
View Date:2024-12-24 10:25:26
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Water has run out at U.N. shelters across Gaza as thousands packed into the courtyard of the besieged territory’s largest hospital as a refuge of last resort from a looming Israeli ground offensive and overwhelmed doctors struggled to care for patients they fear will die once generators run out of fuel.
Palestinian civilians across Gaza, already battered by years of conflict, were struggling for survival Sunday in the face of an unprecedented Israeli operation against the territory following a Hamas militant attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,300 Israelis, most of them civilians.
Israel has cut off the flow of food, medicine, water and electricity to Gaza, pounded neighborhoods with airstrikes and told the estimated 1 million residents of the north to flee south ahead of Israel’s planned attack. The Gaza Health Ministry said more than 2,300 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting erupted last weekend.
Relief groups called for the protection of the over 2 million civilians in Gaza urging an emergency corridor be established for the transfer of humanitarian aid.
“The difference with this escalation is we don’t have medical aid coming in from outside, the border is closed, electricity is off and this constitutes a high danger for our patients,” said Dr. Mohammed Qandeel, who works at Nasser Hospital in the southern Khan Younis area.
Doctors in the evacuation zone said they couldn’t relocate their patients safely, so they decided to stay as well to care for them.
“We shall not evacuate the hospital even if it costs us our lives,” said Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the head of pediatrics at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia.
If they left, the seven newborns in the intensive care unit would die, he said. And even if they could move them, there is nowhere for them to go in the 40-kilometer-long (25-mile-long) coastal territory. “Hospitals are full,” Abu Safiya said. The wounded stream in every day with severed limbs and life-threatening injuries, he said.
Other doctors feared for the lives of patients dependent on ventilators and those suffering from complex blast wounds needing around-the-clock care. Doctors worried entire hospital facilities would be shut down and many would die as the last of fuel stocks powering their generators came close to running out. United Nations humanitarian monitors estimated this could happen by Monday.
At Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the heart of the evacuation zone, medical officials estimated at least 35,000 men, women and children crammed into the large open grounds, in the lobby and in the hallways, hoping the location would give them protection from the fighting. “Their situation is very difficult,” said hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmia.
Hundreds of wounded continue to come to the hospital every day, he said.
About half a million Gaza residents have taken refuge in U.N. shelters across the territory and are running out of water, said Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the U.N.'s Palestinian refugee agency, known by the acronym UNRWA. “Gaza is running dry,” she said, adding that U.N. teams have also begun to ration water.
Touma said a quarter of a million people in Gaza moved to shelters over the past 24 hours, the majority of which are U.N. schools where “clean water has actually run out,” said Inas Hamdan, another UNRWA spokeswoman.
Across Gaza, families rationed dwindling water supplies, with many forced to drink dirty or brackish water.
“I am very happy that I was able to brush my teeth today, can you imagine what lengths we have reached?” said Shaima al-Farra, in Khan Younis.
veryGood! (832)
Related
- 2 more escaped monkeys recaptured and enjoying peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in South Carolina
- Maryland governor signs bill to rebuild Pimlico, home of the Preakness Stakes
- How many NBA MVPs does Nikola Jokic have? Denver Nuggets big man picks up third of career
- Thick atmosphere detected around scorching, rocky planet that's twice as big as Earth
- Republican Dan Newhouse wins reelection to US House in Washington
- Zayn Malik Reveals the Impressive Gift Khai Inherited From Mom Gigi Hadid
- Beyoncé does viral Drea Kelly dance to her song 'II Hands II Heaven' in new post
- This Amazing Vase Has a Detachable Base That's a Game-Changer for Displaying Fresh Flowers
- Caitlin Clark's gold Nike golf shoes turn heads at The Annika LPGA pro-am
- Hailey Bieber Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby With Husband Justin Bieber
Ranking
- US overdose deaths are down, giving experts hope for an enduring decline
- TikTok sues US government: Lawsuit alleges forced ban or sale violates First Amendment
- Who is the Con Queen of Hollywood? Apple TV+ retells story of legendary swindler
- Pregnant Jenna Dewan Poses Naked in Front of Open Window in Riskiest Photo Yet
- Louisville officials mourn victims of 'unthinkable' plant explosion amid investigation
- Whistleblower speaks out on quality issues at Boeing supplier: It was just a matter of time before something bad happened
- Indiana GOP governor nominee Mike Braun announces his choice for lieutenant governor
- Couple and a dog killed after mobile home explosion leaves 'large debris field' in Minnesota
Recommendation
-
Trump announces Tom Homan, former director of immigration enforcement, will serve as ‘border czar’
-
Advocates ask Supreme Court to back Louisiana’s new mostly Black House district
-
US tornado activity ramps up: Hundreds of twisters reported in April, May
-
How technology helped a nonspeaking autistic woman find her voice
-
More human remains from Philadelphia’s 1985 MOVE bombing have been found at a museum
-
Kendall Jenner Shares Why She’s Enjoying Her Kidless Freedom
-
Siblings, age 2 and 4, die after being swept away in fast water in California river
-
Alleged killer of nursing student Laken Riley indicted by grand jury in Georgia on 10 counts